Clockwork
by Elizabeth Allen
Summary: Mimi's move to New York sets forth a dramatic and romantic chain of events that lead everyone question who their hearts truly need and love. Mimato, Taiora
1. The Wound Spring

Oh, my! This was incredibly long for me. A little over 3,000 words. I'm pretty proud.

Anyway the true resolution to this story remains unknown even to me. I'll decide eventually, but for now, it's just a mountain with no flat line resolution. This slightly upsets me since I'm usually not so fickle about endings. Normally I'm dead on about how I want a story to come out, but this one is just a big fat blur. Ah well. Now I have two awesome things to work on this summer, eh?

Any comments about what you see below can be found on imp27, my specifically for fandom/artsy things journal. You can find it as my homepage. Otherwise, I will no longer waste your time. There will be no forewords after this, just disclaimers. Like I said, everything you may/may not need to know is on imp27.

Yes, I _am_ shamelessly plugging myself. How do you like them apples?

You know I'm a goofball right? Well, now you do.

DISCLAIMER: I. Don't. Own. Digimon. Duh.

Lots of love.

* * *

chapter one

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clockwork: (noun) A mechanism of **geared** wheels **driven** by a **wound** spring, as in a **mechanical** clock.

-http –double slash dot- www –dot- dictionary –dot- reference –dot- com

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A grin formed across his features as he waved at her. Her light brown hair was bouncing everywhere and puffs of steam escaped her open mouth as she ran towards him.

"Late again, I see. You're lucky you're too cute to be mad at," he chided.

"You… should… shut up, Yamato," she managed between breaths.

"And where's the fun in that? I dunno, Mimi, I think you need someone to tease you now and then. Keeps you humble and the entire world knows how great a feat that is." His grin had not faltered.

"You're too cheeky for your own good. I swear that mouth of yours is the damnation of your good looks."

"Then why are you here?" He quirked his eyebrows.

"Hmph, you're just lucky too. Consider yourself privileged that I even made the effort to show up."

"Are you two at it again?" Taichi called from a distance. A very bundled Sora smiled from behind him.

"All in good fun my friend," Yamato replied.

"For you. I was being completely serious." Mimi turned to one direction on her heel, eyes closed and nose in the air.

"How serious are you about this!" Yamato proceeded to tickle his girlfriend at the waist. She nearly fell over from shock and laughter, but he managed to support her.

"Ahahahahaha, you're so dumb," she said as he hugged her tightly. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Hey, now, that wasn't very nice. Would you like to go for another round?" His hands poked dangerously at her sides.

"NO!" she yelled quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"

"For your sake, I hope so."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of in the mood for a movie!" Sora piped.

"Oh, that's right. In all the excitement, I totally forgot. Let's go!" Mimi grabbed Yamato's hand and pulled him into the theater.

Taichi and Sora trailed behind.

"Those two… I hope we're invited to the wedding, eh, Sora?" Taichi whispered to her. Mimi was talking Yamato's ear off again.

"That would be nice. It's so obvious they'll be together forever," she said with a nod. If any two people were perfect together, it was Mimi and Yamato. Sora thought of them as her favorite couple, besides her and Taichi of course.

The two couples sat down near the back in front of the large screen, Taichi and Sora with candy and ice cream, while Yamato and Mimi shared a large bucket of popcorn and an extra large soda.

"Even with all those antics you guys displayed outside, we still managed to arrive early!" Taichi commented.

"Yeah, thanks for picking on me for nothing, Yamato!" Mimi gave him an offended look.

"Forty minutes 'early', as you say, is late in my book." He shrugged back.

"Pff, I wouldn't touch that book if my life depended on it."

"Wanna say that again, dearest?"

"You heard me."

"Oh, but I do dare you to insult me once more."

"Whadda masochist."

"Very complimentary to your sadistic personality, no?"

"Why I oughta!"

"Okay, enough, I think we all get the point. Mimi is a bully and Yamato is a weakling." Taichi grinned and Sora coughed back a laugh.

"I say we tag team him," Mimi said to Yamato.

"I say I get the first shot." He rolled up his sleeves and bent over the seat to get at his best friend.

"I say my boyfriend stays in one piece, thanks!" Sora told them both.

After that, they all settled down into much nicer conversations and eating of traditional theater junk foods.

"Do you remember how we all ended up like this?" Taichi wondered.

"Well, if you could be more specific, I'm sure my brain would have no trouble following," Yamato replied.

"You know, me with Sora and you and Mimi." He nodded towards the girls who were chatting on the other side of Yamato.

"God, how could I forget? All that blood brothers nonsense."

"Gotta hand it to Koushiro."

"Are you kidding me? I don't know why we ever picked him in the first place."

"Because Iori wouldn't have done it, Miyako has a big mouth, we really didn't want to involve Takeru or Hikari for obvious reasons, Daisuke we for sure would have expected all _that_ from, Jou is too frilly, and Ken is…well, Ken."

"But Koushiro? Come on. We could have found someone else!"

"Or you could have done it yourselves," Mimi interjected.

"We were too chicken!" Taichi protested.

"But it would have saved us a lot of trouble and confusion," Sora reasoned.

"Yeah, I mean, Yamato liking Sora and Taichi liking Sora and me and then there was the part where we got so confused and freaked Koushiro out that he just left it at, 'OH, FOR GOD'S SAKES, JUST CALL THEM GAY FOR EACH OTHER!' Wow, so not worth it." Mimi smiled at the memory.

"And in the end, we had to hear it from the horses' mouths anyway, so there was really no point in sending a messenger." Sora shook her head.

"But it had to be done at the same time. Yama and I agreed! BLOOD BROTHERS!"

"I don't think Koushiro was really insane like we thought, Sora," Mimi said sideways.

"We heard that!" Taichi exclaimed.

"So we did, keep your pants on, the movie's starting." Yamato gestured to the screen which was lighting up in accordance to the lights dimming. Sora moved back to her seat next to Taichi and Mimi got comfortable in her seat.

As the movie started, Yamato found it appropriate to move his arm around Mimi's shoulders and began to nibble on her ear.

"Yama, I'm trying to watch the movie!" she giggled.

"How much do you want to bet I care?" he whispered into her ear. She let out a loud giggle before covering her mouth in embarrassment. He laughed quietly and she slapped his stomach. "Ow!"

"Yo, shut up," Taichi mumbled.

The rest of the movie went by quietly. The lack of Yamato's antics depressed Mimi. It gave her the chance to think, one thing she was trying to avoid as of late.

'_How am I going to tell him? My heart's going to break more than his,_' she thought. '_To think that this will be the last time we have this much fun together for a long time. Who's to say the long distance thing's going to work anyway? Yamato's not that strong. I know him. The minute he feels like he's losing me, he'll detach himself instantly. And let's face it, Meems, he's not going to wait around very long until that minute comes._

'_How will I live without him? I'll go crazy without someone to make the days fly by. If only there was some way I could stay. I should just run away tonight and buy my own apartment. Maybe Sora and her mom will take me in. No, that's intrusive. Maybe I can live in a cardboard box. I'd find some way to make it homey, right? Just as long as I can keep my Yamato. I love him too much to let go. This isn't fair at all._'

Mimi tried desperately to focus on the movie but her thoughts would not relent. Her guilt and unhappiness seemed to chip away at her slowly until she finally reached the limits of her sanity.

"Mimi?" Yamato whispered.

Her eyes escaped their trance like state and focused on him. "Huh?"

"You spaced out. Something wrong?"

"No! Of course not! Just savoring the moment. Summer vacation isn't months from now and, well, it'll be so much more fun then when we can do things like this more often, ne?"

"Of course. I just wouldn't want you to miss out on the movie. It would suck if you paid for nothing."

"Well, I think I'll be okay wasting my own money. You on the other hand… Yama, I'm not wasting money on you. Please do avert your eyes from my stunningly gorgeous face to the lit screen in front of you." She smiled at him sweetly.

He obeyed her while he muttered, "You're really something you know that?"

She inwardly sighed. '_This isn't going to be easy_.'

* * *

The movie ended on a sound note. Mimi stretched as she got out of her seat. She still hadn't paid any attention, so she was lost as Yamato, Taichi, and Sora happily chatted over the special effects and supposedly crappy storyline. She slapped on a deadpan smile as they walked outside.

The wintry season made the streets slippery and snowy and the dark of the night shadowed narrow crevices between the many buildings. Mimi and Yamato bade farewell to Taichi and Sora, and exchanged snide remarks about being insanely gay for each other or too crazy to be in love or utterly conservative as a twosome to which Taichi provided a, "You should see what happens behind closed doors." Sora didn't like this very much and deemed him worthy of a kick in the pants and the silent treatment.

"SORA! OUR BABIES! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM!"

"Shut up, Yagami. I want to go home, so if you would please walk me, that'd be great." Sora began down the wet sidewalk.

"She loves me, I swear," Taichi wheezed. Yamato nodded sardonically. Mimi simply shook her head disapprovingly.

The latter couple walked down the opposite direction.

"So what did you think of the movie? I didn't hear you say anything," Yamato inquired.

"I still never got back on. From what I did catch and what you guys said all I really missed was eye candy. Can't say I'm broken hearted about that."

"Fair enough. Maybe we can rent it later so you can actually see it."

"Right," Mimi answered shortly. Yamato stayed quiet, and she feared that perhaps he thought she didn't want to see it with him. "About when do you think it'll come out?" she saved.

"It seems DVD release dates come sooner and sooner nowadays. I'd give it three to five months."

"Cool. So you didn't like it all that much huh?"

"Actually, I liked it a lot, but I'm not going to admit that in front of Taichi. He'd torture me forever about loving clichéd robot movies and bad romances in them forever. Thing is, if they're so bad, why do people keep making them and seeing them? The classic stuff is timeless, right?"

"That's true. I never thought of it that way. I've always loved that about you, your insightfulness. You always think outside the box." She smiled sweetly at him as he put one arm around her and smiled back.

"I dunno, Tachikawa, but these mood swings of yours are suddenly becoming very attractive. You're incredibly unpredictable. In that theater you look like you were about to start bawling, but now you're quite happy."

'_You don't know the half of it_.'

"I was not going to start bawling! I was thinking."

"Couldn't save your thoughts for a more convenient time? I thought you wanted to see it."

"I did, it's just…" she trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You keep saying that, and now I'm starting to think it's a lot more than nothing. Mimiiiii, talk to me. I love how you're unpredictable, but at the same time, I hate not knowing what's going on with you when I feel I really need to. And if this is something I should be worrying about-"

"And why would you think a silly thing like that?" She was desperately trying to avoid telling him anything now.

"Because you're denying there's something wrong again. It's not like you to not pay attention to a movie with, dare I say it, hot guys?"

"See, now you're being silly again. The only hot guy in the world to me is you."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that. You and Sora were talking about that American actor Brad Pitt just the other day!"

"Oh, that?" Mimi said nervously. "Nothing! I was just playing along. That was nothing."

"Mimi, you are truly beginning to make me loathe that word." His voice reeked of annoyance. Mimi was fearful that this was turning into a fight. Even if she didn't want it to happen, she realized she couldn't let him win this one and hurt himself. Better that perhaps a fight escalades to a break up than to break up because of such a heart wrenching thing.

"Well, I personally don't care. If you don't want to believe me that's your problem, not mine. I'll live. You on the other hand… you're too jealous and wanting. It can't always go your way, you brat."

At that Yamato came to an abrupt halt.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have gone that far that quick. Is he mad or depressed? I can't tell,_' Mimi thought.

"Mimi, if anyone here is being a brat, it's you. You're refusing to tell me what's wrong and I'm ten feet above positive that something is bothering you," he said calmly. She could tell whatever emotion he was feeling he was hiding it with extreme effort.

"And I'm twenty feet more positive than you that you're just being a big baby!" '_How am I going to live with myself knowing that I'm insulting him out of love?_'

"Why are you arguing with me like this? Why can't you just talk to me!"

"BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT, YAMATO! YOU'RE PARANOID!" But she knew he was far from it.

He grabbed her face in his hands and looked into her hazel eyes with his intense blue ones.

"I love you. Whatever it is, it's not worth us hurting one another."

She gulped and averted her eyes as low as they could go, half way down his black sweater. She knew that this was the moment to tell him. If there was ever a time he needed to hear that she loved him back and that she was sure they could make it all work it was now. She could feel an entire monologue brewing just beneath the surface of her mouth in her voice. Her mind was reeling with the things she knew she needed to say before she was gone, before he was gone.

But the words would not spill.

They would not form into sweet intangible yet textured words, words that he might feel just barely, but words that would singe her soul.

She could not say, "Yamato, I love you with all my heart…"

"…but I'm moving away."

But the next thing she knew, he was crying on her shoulder.

* * *

It was a day before the big move and Mimi was lying in her bed. She had not seen Yamato since that very night. Her heart was too broken to call and talk with him about their options to keep their relationship afloat. She presumed he was just as depressed. Sora and Taichi each called to talk it over with her since Yamato had told Taichi and both Mimi and Taichi told Sora.

"He was really upset, Meems," Taichi had said.

"Me too," she'd replied melancholy.

"Are you going to try and work it out and see if maybe the long distance thing will work?" Sora had asked.

"I don't know."

And she truly didn't. She didn't want to let him go, but she knew it wasn't fair of her to keep him when he should be with girl who could actually come within arm's reach of him without a hitch. She on the other hand would have to endure a rather long plane ride to do that if they stayed together. Couldn't love be selfish? Not for her. She knew what the right thing to do was, no matter how unpleasant.

'_Take a deep breath, Tachikawa. Dial his number and you two can talk all this out. Maybe fifty years from now you'll be content with just being friends for the rest of your life. Yup, good friends with a gorgeous blond male who loves you more than anything and serenades you on a regular basis and is smart and funny and sweet and ohhhhhhhh!_

'_God, please kill me now. I won't live a day without him._'

Her hand was rested on her phone next to her bed. It was poised and prepared to pick it up, but Mimi's newly fragile hand could not lift the suddenly weighted object. The receiver was suddenly a two ton anvil that would not budge from its plastic cradle. All at once her body simply stopped all functions. Her eyelids weighed down over her eyes and every limb in her body sagged. Her involuntary muscles and organs slowed greatly. Her brain seemed to be holding her millimeters away from the edge of death.

The sound of the doorbell to the front door didn't register. Her mother bustling in with a bright smile to announce Yamato's arrival didn't register. She only awoke from her paralyzed state when he came into her room, sat on her bed, and picked up her up so that he hugged her limp form as it sagged against him.

They were quiet for ten minutes, just him holding her.

"Mimi, we can't do this."

"I know," she croaked, barely audible.

"You need to live. Maybe you'll meet someone who makes you happier and doesn't tease you as much."

"Why on earth would you think I minded all that?" Her voice was still crackly. She'd barely used it in the past week.

He ignored her. "You can live better off without me."

"I don't think that's possible, Yamato. You are the only person in the world who I want to be with. I wake up to see you every day. Every tear you cried the other night burned my skin through my jacket. The reason I feel like a ton of lead is because I'm dreading the fact that I won't see you every day anymore. I'd rather die the most painful death a hundred times than go the rest of my life without you." She slowly began to cry harder than she ever had before.

"Please don't tell me that. Please don't or else I'll say something stupid like 'we should try and work this out.' You and I both know that it won't work. You'll find someone much better-"

"Shut up! Don't you get it? The only person for me is _you_! There can never be another person!"

He hugged her tighter and she barely noticed the fact that she was barely breathing anymore. Slowly her arms encircled him. And then, terribly, the most convenient thing happened.

"We're going out for some more moving stuff kids! We'll be back in an hour or so!" Mimi's father called out from outside the door. They heard the front door shut and pulled away. Both their eyes were bright red and puffy. Without a word the kisses commenced and the pile of clothes on the floor grew.


	2. Things Change

Right, so be sure to check my profile for any updates and what not. Remember, I'm really not sure what the ending pairings are going to be, so don't be so quick to love this one if you're an adamant such/such pairing supporter. Please, do keep an open mind.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon. Sorry.

* * *

chapter two

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"If you want **things** to **stay** as they are, **things** will have to **change**."

- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

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To Mimi, New York was a gray place. The buildings rose high and were made of dark windows. The facades of other buildings were of dark architecture. Everything was dark. In short, she dearly missed Japan and her Yamato.

After they'd surrendered to one another, they'd quickly changed and Yamato left her with a lingering kiss on her forehead. He hadn't come to bid goodbye to her before she boarded her plane like all her other friends did, and she hadn't given him her phone number.

In fact, a few days after she'd arrived, she received a call from Taichi and Sora (who had her on speaker phone) and they'd both said they hadn't seen Yamato at all, not even at school.

"Can you let him know that I'm waiting for his call then?" she asked of them.

"No problem. I'm sure he'll call, Meems," Taichi reassured.

But it was close to summer now, four months after her departure, and there had been no call. The first two weeks, she was sure she was going insane, but slowly, insanity slipped into numbness, and then numbness slipped into depression. And now, finally, Mimi was slowly regaining her composure, if only to get through the next few years without him until she could go back to Japan for college.

Her time in school wasn't as difficult as she'd expected. She excelled in English back in Japan, if only to travel to Europe and America to go to the fashion shows and eat plenty of authentic cuisine. She made lots of friends, and there were quite a few boys who thought the prospect of a sweet, Japanese girlfriend charming. But for Mimi, these new acquaintances were nothing in comparison to her loved ones back home. There would be no new best friend to take Sora's place, no joking, overprotective big brother to replace Taichi.

And there would be no other love of her life like Yamato. No little sister like Hikari. No little brother like Takeru. No homework helpers like Koushiro and Jyou. No friends like Miyako, Ken, Iori, and Daisuke.

'_Stop thinking about home, Tachikawa. You'll just make yourself cry again. Two weeks is a good record! Let's go for longer,_' she told herself.

**BRIIIIIIIIIING**.

"Holy!" She jumped up from being startled. "I hate phones…" she muttered. "Hello?"

"MEEMS!" Taichi's voice rang loudly.

"Ow, I think that was my eardrum, Yagami! What do you want?"

"Sorry. Hey, I have an end of the year project coming up and I was wondering if you could help."

"Sure, what can I do?"

"Well, I'll need somewhere to stay when I go to New York!"

"WHAT!"

"YEAH, and I'll be staying for two weeks. Will your parents mind?"

"Probably not, but I'll check. Hold on a sec." Mimi stepped out of her room and shouted down the hallway towards the kitchen, "MOMMY! TAICHI'S COMING TO NEW YORK, CAN HE STAY WITH US?"

"Of course he can!" Mrs. Tachikawa said brightly from behind her.

"WAH! You scared me!" Mimi clutched her heart and turned back to the receiver, "Whew! All systems are go! When can we expect you?"

"In two days!"

Her face twisted into an exasperated expression. "And you're just now calling?"

"Sorry. I was so busy making flight arrangements with my parents and a schedule with my teachers I completely forgot to make the most important call!"

"Aw, Taichi that's sweet of you!"

"Oh, no, I forgot to order pizza, but picking up the phone reminded me to call you too."

"Keep this up and I'll just lock you outside when you fly in and arrive at our apartment!"

"NOOOOO, PLEASE, NOOOO! I need a decent night's sleep for once."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Uh, see you later, Meems, bye!" He ended the call quickly.

Her face took on an offended look. "Taichi, what is wrong with you?" she asked the dial tone as she rolled her eyes.

And the next two days after that were devoted to cleaning the house, preparing the rec slash guest room for Taichi, and Mimi, loving her old friends as much as she did, volunteered to go hunting for Taichi's favorite foods. This proved to be incredibly difficult however, considering a lot of his favorite Japanese food was rare in the states. Still she managed to get a good chunk of it and eagerly stuffed all the new groceries into their refrigerator.

That night, Mimi laid on her bed, bursting in excitement and anticipation of Taichi's arrival. She wondered if he cut his hair, but she knew the chances of this were unlikely it since it had only been four months. More importantly, she wondered if she was going to be able to control the flow of questions concerning Yamato that were undoubtedly going to spill out of her mouth in ridiculously large torrents. She was both curious and upset that he had never called, especially since they had shared so much between them. She didn't count on the fact that he could possibly be dealing with the separation worse; he could be so depressed that he had simply lost the will to live and was living the rest of his days out like a zombie.

But Taichi had mentioned a lack of sleep on his part. Perhaps Yamato had done something desperate out of his extreme sadness?

'_Or what if he's handling it better? What if he's already gotten over me?_' Mimi thought in a panic. She couldn't bear the thought. But she reassured herself with the countless memories of saying I love you each and every day they were together. She wasn't sure as to why she was being so silly. Yamato? Get over Mimi? Fat chance! They had been far too in love and far too inseparable. Now she wasn't sure why she'd been so silly to think he _wasn't_ upset or missing her. It was unfathomable for such a thing to happen.

'_Maybe in some alternate universe. Geez, Tachikawa! Get a grip._' And at that, Mimi rolled onto her side and fell into a peacefully deep sleep. And that night she dreamt of Yamato.

The next day was a Saturday and Mimi's alarm was set to screech her ears off at five in the morning, when Taichi was to arrive an hour later. Her hair was in a tangled mess, and her eyes hadn't even opened fully yet five minutes later when she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom.

"MOM! DAD! GET UP!" she yelled shrilly. Her mouth was cleared of toothpaste and she was quickly tying the laces on white sneakers completing her ensemble of old faded jeans and a pink sweatshirt. They instantly sat up and rubbed their eyes.

"Thank you for the wake up call, Mimi," her father commented sarcastically, however the sleep was far too heavy in his voice, so Mimi didn't quite get the fact that he wasn't in the least bit pleased. Rather, she replied, "You're welcome!" quite cheerily.

She turned around from their room to the kitchen a grabbed a number of breakfast bars and some cartons of orange juice. She quickly packed them away alongside her wallet of saved money. The plan was to pick up Taichi and head to a pancake house on the other side of the city, a drive sure to take so much time that they'd all be awake. Also, in the case that they were too early, perhaps the time would overlap into opening hours. Mimi wasn't sure when the restaurant opened. She'd never really checked because, well, she'd never really been up at five in the morning to witness things like the sun rising and stores opening. She was such a deep sleeper, that her parents could never recall a time when she'd woken up because she was hungry or a nightmare disturbed.

"Ready!" she asked her parents urgently as they continued to yawn as they walked towards the front door.

"Noooooo, noooot aaaaaaaat aaaaaaaall," her mother droned.

"Come on!" Mimi walked behind the two, picked up the car keys, and pushed them outside.

Her father sat in the passenger seat and her mother went into the back of their van. Mimi, old enough to have a license but only had a permit, buckled her seat belt and immediately backed out of the parking garage of their apartment complex. It was lucky that they had a car. Quite a few people in New York opted for public transportation instead. But in the case of trips and large family outings (large here meaning the occasional visit from two cousins or an aunt), the Tachikawa trio thought it best to have their own car.

It took twenty minutes to get to the airport. The clock in the car read 5:40 AM. With just enough time to make it to Taichi's terminal, Mimi left her sleeping parents in the car and ushered herself into the building. She made it with ten minutes left to spare and waited patiently in a nearby store selling magazines.

When she'd arrived in New York, her love of girly gossip instantly took over, and she'd immersed herself in the art of American tabloids. This added greatly to her absorption of the English language's intermediate skills and fundamentals thus building off everything she'd learned in Japan. Mimi could hold wonderfully crafted conversations with the most eloquent of English speaking natives.

She was amused at all the tall stories that were printed in some of the periodicals this week occasionally letting out a rambunctious laugh at their absurdities. She had gotten so into it that she hadn't noticed the arrival of Taichi's plane and the suddenly larger crowd of people ushered about heaving cries of greetings and relief.

"Glad to see I've got such a wonderful welcoming party! These people should be jealous!" said the voice of a boy speaking fluent Japanese, something Mimi had both lost touch with and missed.

"Taichi!" She spun around and gave her dear friend a bone crushing hug. "Ohmigod, I'm so sorry! I just kind of got carried away! Honestly I had this big old thing planned out where I was going to scream the loudest and run through all these people and…" she trailed off, noticing her arms flailed about and eyes burning tracks over the surfaces of walls and ceilings. "HOW ARE YOU?"

Taichi stared at her for a moment before laughing almost hysterically at her.

"You sure know how to get on a soap box, Meems. Always have, only now you actually know when you're on it!" He wiped at the tears forming in his eyes. "Woo, if I was jet lagged and depressed before, I'm wide awake and chipper now!"

She frowned at him. "Stop grinning like an idiot. Tell me what's going on. That's the second time you've mentioned being upset."

Taichi's smile faded as he searched her eyes in earnest. She supposed he was trying to think of a way to avoid answering her again.

"Please don't avoid it."

"Meems, I'm sorry. I really don't want to tell you right now. We've got such a fun two weeks ahead of us that it doesn't feel right to say anything and spoil it all now-"

"But, Taichi, you realize that that isn't right? If I have a right to know, and I want to know now, shouldn't it be your responsibility to tell me whenever I wish to know?" she asked him theoretically.

"Technically, yes. But morally? Hurting my friend's feelings isn't something I see as a noble and honest feat."

"So it is something that's going to hurt me?"

"Meems, I'm begging you to drop it. I'll tell you, I promise, but not now. This should be a happy moment and we're just ruining it. Look at us, we haven't seen each other in months and we're having some dumb morbid conversation! Come on, I'm starved and sleepy. What's for breakfast?"

Mimi smiled at him sadly. "You're lucky I love you so much, Yagami." Her smile perked up a bit as she remembered the plan. "We're having pancakes today!"

* * *

Mimi's parents were slightly more awake after having a few cups of coffee each at the pancake house. Mimi decided for an unhealthier form of caffeine in the form of a cherry soda, and Taichi, the far more sensible as far as health went among them all, decided to drink a glass of orange juice. 

"Meems, I don't know where you get off drinking cherry soda at seven in the morning, but wow… a burger too?"

"I don't know the meaning of breakfast," she replied, turning her head away and lifting her nose in the air.

"Right. That's pretty obvious. So you never told me- how is New York?"

"What are you talking about? I tell you every time I call you. It's nice, but it's definitely not home."

"I'm talking about that, exactly! You say that same thing every time. Care to elaborate for once or what?"

"No."

"Meems…"

"I don't know how it gets more obvious than that, Taichi."

"The buildings. What's inside them?"

"Depends on which building you're talking about."

"What are the people like?"

"Depends on which people you're talking about."

"You're not very enthused about such a magnificent city, I can tell."

She snorted into her straw, making bubbles form on the surface of the carbonated drink. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm being completely honest. You can't really sum up New York in a few sentences as opposed to actually experiencing it yourself."

"That means, you'll show me around of course?"

Mimi looked as if she was seriously considering saying no; her eyes moving from the floor to the corner of the ceiling and back again as she innocently sipped her cherry coke from a straw. She looked at Taichi's distraught face and smiled brilliantly so that the corners of her eyes crinkled into numerous folds. "Oh, I'm just kidding, Taichi! Of course, I'll show you around, but I'll be honest here, only being in this city for a few months by no means means that I know a lot, because seriously? I really only know of the mainstream tourist spots and a really yummy Italian restaurant down the street from our apartment… HEY! We should go there tonight and ditch my parents!"

Mimi's parents lifted their heads from their cheery conversation to look at their daughter.

"Like you did at the airport?" huffed Mrs. Tachikawa.

"You guys were asleep. I didn't want to wake you."

"Then why get us out of bed?" her father questioned.

"So you could eat of course!"

"And what about asking our permission to go out tonight?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"Well I figured, I'm sixteen and I'll be with a very athletically fit seventeen year old boy who I've known for, oh, seven years? If you want, I'll take the van."

Her parents looked at each other before smiling silly and shrugging their approval. Mimi looked at her parents in annoyance.

"You guys are too silly sometimes," she said as their waiter laid out their food before them. She nodded and clearly said, "Thank you" in English.

"You've improved a lot since I last saw you," Taichi commented, inspecting his food before pulling out a digital camera and taking photographs from all angles, even going so far as to deleting a picture when the eggs weren't in the right light.

"Speaking of silly…" Mimi eyed him. "Anyway, I suppose living in an English speaking country may or may not be to blame for my newfound accomplishment?" she suggested sarcastically.

"Haha, Meems."

"I find it incredible that you can take pictures of eggs with a straight face and yet you decide that my sarcasm is worth laughing about."

"You've certainly got more of an attitude than before."

She smiled nervously. "I guess since Yama's not around I've kind of got to make up for both of us."

"Wonderful. I can't even escape the punk even when I'm on another continent."

"Come on, now. He isn't that bad."

He stopped taking pictures of his food for a moment and looked at her as if he was hiding something again, but he quickly realized what he was doing and stuffed his camera into his cargo pants before grabbing a fork and immersing himself with the very same eggs he'd found so full of photographic novelty moments before.

"You're weird." Mimi popped a french fry into her mouth and watched her friend make a mess of his face.

"I'm still starving, is what I am," he stated matter of factly once he'd finished. Mimi was only on her fifth french fry.

* * *

That night, Mimi and Taichi returned from the Italian restaurant after having dinner and decided to watch movies. Mimi switched on the subtitles and let Taichi enjoy the featured presentation as she decided to make a snack of scrambled eggs in honor of him. She giggled to herself thinking of him pulling out his camera again and positioning the eggs before the TV screen to get an "ideal" shot. He'd spent the majority of his time at the Italian restaurant photographing the various people and his spaghetti (to which Mimi insisted that he try something a little less common, but he was wary and was sure to stick with what he knew, even if he didn't really know anything about Italian food to begin with. But he'd heard of spaghetti, so that was all that mattered really, according to him.). Mimi simply watched him and enjoyed his company, smiling to herself at how adorable he was. She almost burst into giggles when he got mad at his camera's battery for dying out on him, and all he could do was bash it on the table. 

And now as she cooked the eggs, she wondered at her dear friend. He was in deep concentration at the screen it seemed, but she noticed that his eyes weren't moving, weren't scanning. He was thinking about whatever it was that was upsetting him again, she knew it. Her brows furrowed as she tied her hair up into a bun. She didn't notice the eggs beginning to burn in the oil, a fire growing instantly. When she looked her eyes widened in horror.

"Ohjeeeesus!" She rushed over to the sink and filled a cup of water before tossing it into the pan, utterly surprised when the flame bounced back onto her shirt. She screamed terrified and hysteric.

"MIMI!" Taichi yelled as he ran into the kitchen. "MIMI!" He looked at her before yelling, "TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT!"

"Taichi, I'm on fire, now's not the time to be horny!"

"NO, YOU IDIOT!" He walked up to her and forced her shirt over her head. Unfortunately, it slipped away from his grasp and skimmed a number of wooden cabinets, lighting them all afire.

Mimi looked at the kitchen, the fire on the stove and the fire spreading around it, and then she started crying.

"Oh, Mimi, I can't believe this!" Taichi yelled at her in a frustrated tone before attempting to beat the flames. The rag he held didn't even touch the flames before Mr. Tachikawa ran in and pulled Taichi away.

"Now's not the time to play hero, son. It's just an apartment. We can get another," he said seriously. Mrs. Tachikawa was trying as best as she could not to cry like her daughter as she dialed for help. Mr. Tachikawa grabbed Mimi and pulled Taichi outside, and Mrs. Tachikawa followed.

When the fire department arrived it was mostly too late. The fire managed to stay within their complex, but destroyed the majority of the Tachikawas' belongings. Taichi hugged Mimi as she continued to bawl, her parents discussing damages with the fire department and their landlord. A number of people had gathered to survey the scene.

"Taichi, I need to know now what's going on. I was watching you. You were thinking about it again when the movie was on," Mimi warbled without melody into his shirt.

Taichi sniffed with an air of irony. "So that's what distracted you from your cooking?"

"More or less, but it's not your fault. It's whatever's bothering you."

"Whoever."

"What?" She pulled away and looked at him.

"Meems, you know… I…"

She put a hand to his cheek caringly, her eyes saddened as she looked at his pained face. "You can tell me. We're best friends after Sora and me and you and Yamato remember?" That only seemed to quicken the formation of tears in his eyes. "Oh, Taichi. What is it?"

He blinked the pain back and smiled bitterly at Mimi.

"Meems, I love Sora. I want to be with her forever. I can't see myself waking up every day next to anyone else…"

"Right… of course…" she egged him on.

"And you love Yamato… you know, with all your heart and stuff… me and Sora always though you two would be together forever…" He sighed wistfully.

She nodded and waited patiently for him to finish.

"Um, well, the day that you told us to give him your phone number, like right after you left, we went to his apartment, and his dad wasn't there. He looked dead. His eyes weren't red, they were purple, and he was skinnier. It was scary. His voice was all crackly. You know, his dad is always working so he's always eating take out and Yamato cooks for himself. I looked in the sink and there weren't any dishes. He hadn't eaten. I left and got us dinner and Sora stayed with him to talk. And I came and we ate and whatever, but when it was time to go, Sora decided to stay again. She called me the next morning from Yamato's house saying they stayed up and talked all night."

Mimi didn't know what to think about all of that. She was jealous of Sora, of course, but would Yamato betray her after all that she'd given him? Would Sora turn her back on Taichi?

"She told me that after all of that, she didn't feel right with me. Yamato needed her and she realized that she needed him." He went quiet, his eyes empty and cold.

"Taichi, finish. What happened? What have they done?" she asked desperately.

"She let me go. Meems, she picked Yamato." Salty liquid slowly streamed down from his cheeks now.

"And Yamato! What did he do? What did he say!" She was crying now too, her voice nothing but horrified yelling. She didn't mean to yell, but what could one do when one's life was on the edge of nothingness?

"He's gone, Mimi. He's with Sora now. He picked her too. He came over to my house, gave me a hug, a pat on the back, that shit. Played it up like he hadn't stolen the love of my life and broken one of my best friend's hearts. He ruined everything-"

A slap rang through. Mimi's hand hung limp at her side as a red tinge formed on Taichi's face. People were beginning to watch.

"Why didn't you do anything, Taichi! Why did you let her stay! Why weren't you a better friend to Yamato! Why are you blaming this on him?"

"I trusted my girlfriend, Mimi! I trusted her with everything!" he yelled back.

"Trust isn't an excuse for being naïve! You should always want to be with her no matter where she is or who she's with!"

"Mimi, I'm on your side! We're in this together, don't you see?"

"Clearly, Taichi, you're not or else you wouldn't be blaming your best friend. Friends always come before that special someone. I don't blame them at all. I blame you!" And with that Mimi turned on her heel and ran far away.


	3. The Arms That Catch The Fallen

Oh, boy! Chapter three already. This story is actually really fun to write. Hope you enjoy. I'm sure there will be mixed feelings on this one though.

Thank you for the kind reviews. I love writing this story more knowing that even despite pairings, people are enjoying it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, thank you.

* * *

chapter three

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"Don't **walk** in **front** of me; I may not **follow**. Don't **walk** **behind** me; I may not **lead**. Just **walk beside** me and be my **friend**."

- Albert Camus

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Mimi's eyes fluttered open at the sounds of birds chirping and twigs crackling nearby. She was in a very secluded spot, a large tree trunk, hollowed out, perhaps once housing a homeless person. It was hidden away by shrubbery and the leaves and branches of the tree. She scanned her surroundings, trying to remember what had happened and how she'd ended up there. She looked down at the shirt she was wearing. It was a dark olive green and she'd instantly remembered it on Taichi the day before. He'd given her his shirt to wear since hers had burned in the fire. It definitely didn't quite match her peasant skirt covered in paisley patterns colored various shades of pink. Her feet were dirtied from running barefoot through dark streets and into a random park she'd found two months before. It was muddy from sprinklers, so her feet became incredibly soiled, and the mud had splashed up onto her skirt. She sorrowfully inspected the splotches and almost cried out in agony at two holes she'd found made possible only by the random tree fallings she'd slept on. How she'd managed to ward off thoughts of rats and mice and spider among other scary little rascals, she'd never know.

Her stomach grumbled, begging for love and attention. In answer, she felt her feet carry her out of the park and along the streets.

It was near noon she supposed. The streets of New York were full of rushing people here and there. A few stopped to look at her, dirty feet, dirty skirt, ugly shirt (in her opinion), and ratty, mangled hair. It bothered her at first, but after awhile she didn't care and chose to focus her attention at marveling at the sights and sounds around her. Her senses took her so deep that she didn't notice the police car that stopped near her and didn't acknowledge the police man that tapped her on the shoulder until he spun her around out of impatience.

"Are you Mimi Tachikawa?" he asked her. She stared at him in confusion. She understood him, but his words didn't register. She was living in a dream.

"No, I am not," she spoke in careful English. His mouth curved tightly in an expression of doubt.

"Look, miss, I am under strict orders to bring you down to the NYPD. Your parents are worried beyond all hell about you."

"Tachikawa Mimi has an Ishida Yamato who loves her and wouldn't leave her for anything. The girl you have mistaken her for has no Yamato to love her back anymore." Her eyes stared past the officer into nothingness far away.

"Miss Tachikawa, I don't have the patience to deal with the teenage dilemmas you kids present to me today. I'm not here to be your shoulder, to baby you. I'm here to get you safe with your family. They're concerned about you, so let's be realistic here- how much is teenage love worth compared to the love your family gives you every day?"

"I'll go, sir, but I'll have you know, love is many things and it does many things. Right now it's driving me insane, and it seems that a fellow human being doesn't care about that." She sauntered over to his car, and the man just stared at her in pity.

She arrived at the department and her parents were all too happy to see her. Taichi stood on a wall opposite to them, shirtless, his muscles shining in the late morning light coming in through the windows of an office nearby. His hair was almost limp and his eyes almost drooped of his face. His frown, it seemed, already had.

As her parents fawned all over her, Mimi watched breathlessly at her friend. '_Did I really do that?_' she thought in guilt. Her eyes feel from him to the floor in a look of utter shame.

As her eyes fell, his raised to stare at her. Her face was beyond messed up and her hair all over the place in dirty, almost greasy tangles. Leaves and small twigs stuck out in a few places. For some reason, his shirt had avoided any disarray, but her skirt was unfixable. He hadn't realized what a toll the truth would take on her. '_I'll buy her a new skirt. Something much nicer._'

Her parents left to get breakfast and told her that they had news to share when they got back. They hadn't seen Mimi and Taichi's fight, so they didn't know of the tension between the two. But it was there. As they retreated to a sole gray plastic bench near a water purifier, neither looked and neither spoke. They just sat with their eyes to the floor. Mimi's hands pressed onto her legs and her shoulders tensed up to her ears and Taichi's forearms rested on his thighs, his back curving forward. His head bobbed between looking down and watching the people walk past them, not noticing the sadness between two such excellent friends.

"Mimi…" Taichi began.

"Look, you have nothing to say. You shouldn't. I've had some time to think. No one is to blame, Taichi. None of us. We're just four incredibly naïve and pathetic individuals. Gotta wreck whosever heart to get what we want because let's face it- we're the most important people in the world to us. We don't even love one another enough to care about all that loyalty junk. Who needs loyalty when you've got someone who gets you an adrenaline rush every five seconds?" She smiled at him, trying to find the truth somewhere inside her that she would be okay. That the love of her life hadn't just done the one thing she'd hoped he wouldn't.

"God, Meems. None of us actually thinks alike, you know? I wouldn't do that to Yamato and I know you wouldn't do that to Sora!"

"Oh, ho ho, don't be so sure, Mr High and Mighty. Neither of us was in their position. We don't know what they were thinking. We can't justify any malice against them simply because we got our feelings stomped all over," she said.

"Right, see I don't buy that for a second."

"Well, think about it, and decide on the trial version will ya, 'cause let me tell you, that's how the cookie crumbles. There are few things in life you can never be so sure of until the time comes, you know? Moving away has taught me that. I'll never love people the way I love you guys. And I'll tell ya, I still love both of them. Tell me, Taichi, does falling in love make people bad?"

"You know damn well that this has nothing to do with falling in love. They turned their backs on us for their benefit, Mimi. They decided that we weren't good enough anymore." He sat up, his eyes burning a hole into the wall before him.

"If they chose each other over us, we must ask ourselves: were we ever 'good enough'?"

"No, we're better than."

"So you're denying now that Sora is a good person after all that you two have been through?"

"…No…" he said quietly.

Mimi, so angered before, hugged her friend and he lie in the crook of her arm, her finger absentmindedly playing with his hair.

"I'm mad too, Taichi. I want my Yamato back. I hate Sora. And you… you want Sora back and hate Yamato."

"But hating isn't going to get us very far about this is it?" Taichi said.

"I don't know. I don't know what passion can do."

"I'm scared to live without her. I'll always regret the one that got away, I feel like."

"Maybe that's how they felt. They didn't want regret, so they tried selfishness instead."

"I wonder if there was another way…"

Mimi laughed bitterly. "I think those are called orgies."

"Haha, very funny. I'm glad you don't lose your sense of humor in times of great tragedy."

"I don't know, Taichi. Maybe it isn't tragedy. You never know, right?"

"All I know is that right now I'd rather die than find out."

"Ohhhhhhh, Taichi! Don't say that. You're a ridiculously wonderful person. You'll find that one girl, whether it's Sora or whoever else."

For a time there was quiet. Only the sounds of printers and fax machines and telephones rang through along with foot steps and mingled talks of everything. It was an abstractly beautiful thing to witness, the empty, blotched eyes of a messy girl as she tended for a morose and weak looking boy. They looked sick and so alive at the same time. The water purifier in use by an officer made them look even more like some fantastic ghostly presence. Taichi thought about her words. He tossed them around in his mind and molded them and felt them until a truth rang through his thoughts. Something he'd forgotten long ago.

"I liked you when we were younger," he said, destroying their ethereal scene.

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"When I first met you. It was your funny cowgirl like clothes. Always wanted to come to the states didn't you?"

"Taichi, what are you…? That has nothing to do with right now."

"Meems, it has plenty to do with right now. I liked you."

She bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Why was he telling her this? They were both in mourning, and he decided to play some random trump card. What in the world was he playing at? What did he expect her to say?

"I liked you too," she admitted, her face never changing from its worried look. "I liked your crazy hair. Sadly, I still do." Her face relaxed, but her eyes still remained focused on his.

"I thought Sora was kinda ugly back then."

"I thought Yamato was kind of stupid." They laughed.

"How did we end up with them?" he wondered.

"You should know the answer to that one very well by now! Or do I need to recount the story? It's one of my favorites, even now."

"No, no, that's okay. But I mean, how do you fall for someone you hardly care about at one point and then poof? It's like Cupid stole your will from you!"

"I don't know." She giggled at the wonderful memories she'd had of Taichi and his goofy haircut. "I really don't know." She decided to play a little with it. It still wasn't tamed, as big as ever, but she didn't mind. She loved it more than she did back then.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"God, you have no idea how thrilling I find your hair. I could hide things in it!"

"And you in all your glorious pink. There is no better color for you, Meems." He grabbed at her hand and held her at bay, but she fought back falling on top of him and causing them to crash painfully to the ground.

"Ow!" they cried in unison.

"Of course you two know that such acts of fighting are illegal and you're in a police station, right?" asked an officer walking by.

"Oh, sir, we were only playing. No harm done!" Mimi smiled sweetly.

"Right…" The cop smirked and walked on his way.

As soon as he was gone, she burst into laughter.

"What did he say? I couldn't understand all of it."

"He said not to fight," Mimi managed between laughs.

"We weren't hurting anyone!" This made Mimi laugh even more.

"Meems, can you stop laughing?"

"No way, Yagami."

"Can you at least tell me why you're laughing?"

"I wouldn't be able to if I tried. I still think it's your hair."

"Oh, yeah? What about yours?" He reached over to rub her hair in all direction to mess it up more, but the moment he touched it he realized that it's appearance deceived it's true texture and suddenly all the foliage in it became the tiara of a princess.

"What about mine, huh?" she asked trying to wake him up from whatever trance he was in. It was scaring her slightly.

"I dunno. It's kinda soft. I kinda like touching it." He smiled as he ran his fingers through it, cleaning it and making it neater. Her eyes closed in peace as she focused on his fingertips grazing her scalp. It sent tingles through her.

"We're so weird," Mimi observed in a soft hum as he continued to stroke her head even after it was tidied to perfection.

"Now, we're weird together?" he laughed.

"Well, we must look like freaks, sitting on the linoleum floor of a police department, in a blissful reverie…"

"Such pretty language, but who says this is a reverie? I've got my feet firmly planted to the ground."

"No, you don't. You love this. This is your young schoolboy fantasy. You're living out a dream, and you know it. You love me." The words escaped her lips. She didn't want to take them back though. She didn't care if he heard or not.

He did though. "I don't know, Meems. I really can't say for sure. You and I are in pain. I don't want to make you some stupid escape route."

"You don't have to. We're not escaping anywhere. We're going places we've wanted to go for so long."

"You know I'm not a virgin anymore right?"

"You either?" She lifted one eyelid and looked at him, his face in deep concentration, as if his life depended on perfect strokes through her delicate hair.

"I should have figured."

"You should have, Yagami. We're teenagers running on hormones. There's only one thing we want. It's not just the boys, you know. Sometimes the girls just don't want to admit it." She sighed through her nose, still enjoying his affection.

"Maybe I do love you. But right now, I can say this for sure: you still know how to make my heart skip a beat after all these years. It's the pink around you. It destroys my balance."

"You give me the butterflies too, sometimes, you know. It doesn't help that you're shirtless either."

"It doesn't help that you're wearing my shirt."

"It's ugly, by the way."

"You're just saying that because you're afraid to like it."

"Am I? Green doesn't suit me."

"It's your hair. Your hair is your gift and curse."

"What do you say to dyeing it?"

"Mmm, what color?"

"Pink?"

"Haha, it figures. I should have guessed." He smiled and let his hands fall into his lap as he watched her face gain a grumpy look.

"Why'd you stop?" she whined.

"I felt like teasing you, and my arms hurt now."

"Fine," she huffed. She crossed her arms and faced the direction opposite him.

He grabbed at her waist and pulled her back so his lips barely touched her ears. Her breath hitched as he breathed deeply. His eyes fell to stare at her thigh.

"I don't like your skirt," he whispered. Mimi had to bite down to keep from letting any sound escape her mouth.

"Too bad," she said when she was calm. "I think it's pretty."

"Oh, no. It's pretty. It looks good on you… but I think you'd look better without it…"

"Shut up, Taichi. I don't play that way."

"Who's playing? I told you, Meems. You turn me on."

"Hmph. Where's your damn off switch then?"

"I'm not quite sure I have one, heh heh."

She pushed away from him. "I'm not up for that yet. We can't do that."

"Who said I wanted to?"

"Stop playing with me."

"But it's totally okay for you to say that I love you? Bad logic, Meems."

"I said that on accident."

"Whatever."

"What are we doing?"

"I can't honestly tell you for sure, but I'm pretty sure we're trying to fall for each other to forget Yamato and Sora respectively."

"I know that. But why? Why can't we just feel and forget later on? Why are we hurting ourselves?"

"That's it, Meems. We're never going to forget. You can't forget something that affects you so much that you start to go insane. Maybe we're going insane…" Taichi's eyes traveled to the floor beside her and he looked as if he were going to cry. That's when Mimi started to, soft tears falling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I moved. I should have tried harder to stay. And now look at us! It's not a maybe, Taichi, we are going insane! We're trying to stop hurting by saying stupid things to each other. Things we'd rather be telling them!" She closed her eyes and whispered, "But the worst part is that some of the things we're saying… it's like we mean it."

"Maybe we do. Maybe we can get over them. Maybe it's our childhood innocence coming back for another chance at happiness."

"But does that mean we were never happy with them? 'Cause I dunno, but I felt pretty satisfied being with Yamato."

"There's a difference between satisfaction and happiness, Mimi. Just because I said I _liked_ you back then, that doesn't mean I don't find you attractive now. I've been with Sora for so long that she's all I ever needed, but in retrospect, maybe I need someone else. If she's not the one for me and she's the one for him, maybe I'm the one for someone else…"

"How can you say that?"

"Because betrayal doesn't actually make you think better of a person? Perhaps it may mar their image in your eyes? You weren't there. You didn't see them. You didn't see them holding hands as they started walking home from school. You didn't see them laughing with their friends like a married couple having the time of their lives! I want to be happy for them, that they're happy because as some of my best friends I care about them with all my heart, but it doesn't do any good when they're the ones who turned their back on you for the sake of themselves."

Mimi groaned. "Taichi, we just went through this. They're only human. It's better to forgive and move on, isn't it?"

"I don't know how you can show so much compassion for such a monstrous thing…"

"Because I'm not alone." Mimi moved herself back into Taichi's arms, this time in a more comfortable position. Taichi's eyes softened and he let his chin rest atop her head. He slowly picked her up and sat her down on the plastic gray bench. Her knees bent over his thighs so that her feet were on one side and herself on the other and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He leaned his head on her head and within minutes the two fell asleep.

Mimi's parents returned shortly thereafter and quietly awed at the sight before them. It brought back memories of Japan, when she was younger and Taichi followed by a slew of her other friends would ring the doorbell and sweetly ask if "Mimi-chan could come play".

"Mimi, time to wake up. We've got McDonald's…" Mrs. Tachikawa said sweetly. Mimi awoke slowly, but the minute the smells of the food fluttered through her nose, tingling her senses, her expression brightened and she hungrily snatched one of the bags they were carrying.

"Sorry. I'm a savage beast," she apologized while grabbing a Big Mac and stuffing it in her face.

Taichi moved a bit before half opening one eye to watch Mimi eating. The moment it registered what she was eating though, on reflex, he grabbed the bag and munched on some fries, both lids closed in sleepiness and bliss.

Her parents laughed off the animalistic traits displayed before them. "Right, well, big news then! We're moving back to Japan!" her father announced.

"WHAT?" both teenagers shouted.

"Well, the apartment's gone, and Mimi's been so homesick, and to be honest, the new job isn't very fun, so we're going back home." Her father smiled innocently.

Mimi gulped. Back home to Odaiba. Where Yamato was. Where Sora was. Where they were together. If it weren't for the fact that she wanted to continue eating, Mimi was sure she would have fainted.

"What about Taichi's project?" she asked.

"Oh, well, we'll be here for another week or so to get things straightened out before we head back. Then there's the matter of getting another house out there and all. Yep, and then home sweet home, Mimi. Just like you've wanted!" Her parents seemed to wear looks that proclaimed their pride in their cleverness. Only Mimi and Taichi knew, upon looking at one another, that this was only going to cause more pain, and not just for them.

No, Sora and Yamato would now have to face Tachikawa Mimi, and who knew how that was going to play out.


	4. andBruised Apples

Haha, I feel like I'm adding a twist in every chapter. I can't help it. It probably makes for really annoying experience as far as reading goes, so please let me know if it's getting a little too crazy or if the twists aren't so dramatic as I think they are. I can guarantee, however, that there will be no twists at all in the next chapter. I hope that cheers you up a bit.

Sorry, no revenge in this story. But there is a lot of confusion between emotions. Especially with Yamato, poor guy. You'll see. The last scene? Ugh, I had to rewrite that before it came out somewhat good. I didn't realize how hard it would be. It played out in my head fine and then I read it and I was like, "Ew, that's not right!"

Sorry for the long AN. I figured I owed one since it took longer than expected to get chapter four up. Also: I love Mary Cassat! Yay.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon. None of this is canon. I'm not getting paid. –sad face-

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chapter four

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"I think that if **you shake the tree**, you ought to **be around** when the **fruit falls** to **pick it up**."

- Mary Cassat

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"What are you doing?" a boxer clad brunette asked his dear friend who was absorbed with her image in the mirror.

"I'm tired of my hair. I'm ready to change. I'm lashing out in anger by destroying one of the things he loved about me," she cried, rubbing her scalp furiously.

"I loved your hair too. You could have kept in spite of all this."

She ignored him. "Do you mind telling me why you're standing in the doorway of my hotel bathroom half naked?"

His mouth curved into a sly, handsome smile, and she was afraid she was going to melt all over the floor, which was no good for the dye, she decided.

"How sexually-attracted-to-me of you to notice…"

"Shut up, Yagami. You say the stupidest things sometimes. Stop flirting and get what you came for."

"A goodnight kiss?"

"Ha, no, what is it you _really_ came for?" She went pack to getting the dye into her hair in just the right places.

"Toothpaste. Got any?" She inclined her head to a small, travel sized tube sitting innocently on the sink's edge next to her. He slipped his had underneath her, his arm against her stomach and his face dangerously close.

"Thank you," he whispered, slightly huskily and his eyes half opened gazing upon her gaping mouth before her face grew annoyed.

"Stop that! Go on. Get out!" She chased him to his room right across from hers. He laughed the entire way, the toothpaste long forgotten. He slammed his door shut and she bellowed to it, "And stop looking for stupid excuses to come and tease me! I don't appreciate your pathetic attempts to whatever it is your trying to accomplish!" She sighed after a few minutes and said quietly, "Let me mourn in peace."

"I wouldn't be a friend if I did that," came the reply.

Mimi only turned around to continue the slow progression from Yamato's girl to Mimi-herself.

* * *

"It does look nice," Taichi tried to compliment through gritted teeth. He was sitting next to Mimi on their flight back to Japan and she was fiddling around with her gadgets- her cell phone, her PDA, and her mp3 player, synchronizing their clocks to Japan's time. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Stop trying to be nice. If you don't like it, fine. But it's not going back to what it was before. And it's not supposed to make me look prettier, duh." She stuck her headphones into her ears.

He studied her for most of the flight in between reading passages in some boring book for school. Gradually he began to admire its unusualness. Against her pale skin, she seemed some fair anomaly. Her eyes clashed awfully with the color, but for some reason it only added to the character of her look. The messy girl. She wasn't sweet Tachikawa Mimi from down the street who was so vain her friends had to _force_ themselves to visit her. This girl was entirely different. She was a little broken and a little confused, which bothered him slightly because he knew she was a much more alive person than that. It made no sense that she sat before him trying to just get through the day when only a week ago she couldn't wait to get things over with.

"Meems, you do look beautiful. Don't you see?" he asked her quietly, thinking that she couldn't hear him over her headphones.

"And I told you not to lie." She looked at him and said, "I didn't turn this thing on." A pause before she continued, her eyes concentrating on the head rest of the person in front of her. "But I've already told you that we really shouldn't be saying things we don't mean to each oth-"

He sighed loudly and obnoxiously back at her. "Geez, you're dumb. You should learn to take a compliment in stride and quit acting so falsely humble."

"I'm not false! If anyone here is faking it it's you. You love Sora, so leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with your little rebound from her." She dug around in her carry-on for a magazine she could possibly read.

"I wish it was just a rebound. I wish I wasn't being serious at all, but I'm being sincere, and if you can't take it one way, take it as another. Besides, I wasn't hitting on you. I was trying to be a supportive friend this time. I'm sorry I haven't really been acting like that."

She looked at him and set her magazine on her lap. "You don't get it, do you? You're being a good friend. I realize you're just trying to cheer me up, but the way you're going about it scares me. You shouldn't be telling any girl she's beautiful other than the girl your heart belongs to. I'm worried about what's going on inside your head."

"Well, you shouldn't be because I'm perfectly fine and sane. I'll be okay. I'll find the person I'm really meant to be with, whether it's Sora or someone else. And you will too. Yamato isn't the end of the world. He isn't the be all, end all person for you." He stared at her as if waiting for her confirmation. "Right, Meems? You realize that you're worth more than what he is and has to offer, right? Please tell me you know that you're much better than him."

"I… I don't know. I love him more than anything. He's the best thing that ever happened to me. He's the best thing that could ever happen to anyone. Looking past what he's done, I can only see the most wonderful person on the face of the earth…" Mimi looked down at the glossy cover of her tabloid sadly. She expected it to have answers for her and at that moment. It did no good that all she saw was various grinning it girls and their gorgeous, tanned bodies. What answer could there be there other than girls who are fit and have beautifully colored hair are far more attractive than girls who don't work out and dye their hair pink? Sora's athleticism always showed through when she wore a bikini. She was tanned, and her stomach was flat and her muscles toned to perfection. And her hair was not as much an unusual color as it was perfectly kept, ever gleaming in sunlight. What Mimi once loved about having a good looking best friend she now found to make her physically sick. She knew that was cruel. After all, Sora wasn't to blame, Yamato wasn't to blame, Taichi wasn't to blame… no, Mimi blamed herself. If she had done something different, whether it was taking up a sport or bugging Yamato about calling her, things would have been different. But now all there was was pain amongst them. Why did it have to come to all that?

"You're delusional, Meems. Utterly delusional. If he can bring himself to hurt such a sweet girl how is it possible that he's a 'good' person? I can't fathom the connection there."

"Well, Sora obviously is much sweeter, because you're saying that if she wasn't, it would be me running up to him and covering his face in kisses instead of her."

"Okay, first of all, seriously, don't talk like that. I don't want images of that happening. It's bad enough as it is that we both know that that happens, and who knows how often. Secondly, Sora is a great shoulder. We both know that, but you're a vivacious kind of sweet. You're cuter. She's a cool person. You're a far more sincere one, so stop bringing yourself down."

"I can't help it. I feel like there's something wrong with me." She covered her face to hide her eyes away from Taichi's annoyed look. He leaned over and pulled the tabloid out of her hands, and she could feel the essence of his skin on her own. Oh, her was far too close to her face. She gulped as he stole a look at her lips, and she found herself staring at his as he said, "And ironically, you're perfect." He leaned back casually, almost nonchalantly and she buried herself in the gossip articles, trying desperately to hide the blush that stayed on her face the rest of the way back home. Taichi said nothing the rest of the flight.

He did however say a short goodbye to Mimi once they arrived at the airport and left her only after hugging her tightly for a good two minutes. Mimi could feel herself not wanting to tear away from her life raft of one week quite yet. Watching him walk with his parents out of the building almost made her cry.

"Taichi!" she called out. He turned to look at her with a melancholy smile and soft eyes.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Don't tell anyone I'm back! Please?"

"I won't."

"Thank you." '_For everything_.'

* * *

Yamato was happily cooking for his girlfriend of four months in his lonely apartment building that he shared with his never at home father. He was proud of his independence, but more importantly, he was proud of his culinary skills. Not many teenagers his age could say that they could cook like a pro. 

Sora was happily watching TV on the Ishida couch and eagerly awaiting her serving of what she was sure to be a fantastic meal. It always was. It was one of the reasons she loved Yamato so much. '_Gosh, now I know why Mimi was always gushing about him._' She dearly missed her best friend, but so many conflicting feelings were inside of her, she was having trouble sorting them all out.

On the one had, Yamato was her savior. He whisked her away with what was becoming a disappointing relationship with Taichi. It was sad that she had fallen in love with both, and oh how she knew she still adored him of the wild brunette spikes, but Yamato was a treasure to behold. He was very caring and loving and on top of that a fantastic musician and cook. It was amazing how chivalrous he could be. Taichi was never really the type to be serious about things. He was constantly trying to find the joke in every situation and it had gotten to the point where she could take it no longer. Sophisticated conversations were proving impossible to have with a boy who probably had the intelligence and attention span of some ancient precursor to Homo sapiens. That wasn't to say that he was a bad person. Sora saw so many enthralling traits in Taichi, but it would be a lie to say that the disappointment didn't matter as much as those wonderful things about him. She was captivated by Yamato in every which way and it pained her more than she could possibly have ever realized to see him so weak that day she and Taichi visited him after Mimi's leave.

And Mimi.

Sora felt so completely, to-the-marrow-of-her-bones guilty. Mimi was her best friend and that friendship felt like it had come crashing down the single moment she'd kissed Yamato for the first time. She had thrown all the wonderful girl talks and trips to the mall in the garbage. But how could she betray herself? She loved Yamato and to let him slip by was the most idiotic thing Sora felt she could do. She learned that the answer to the world and its wonders was contained within her heart. She had to believe in that whatever her heart was pushing her to do; perhaps it truly was for the better, no matter who it affected.

But Yamato. Who knew how he felt. She hadn't truly confronted him of his feelings about her and Mimi. All she truly knew was, that night he kissed her and said I love you, and since then he hasn't said it. When he looked into her eyes, she could see a twinge of bitter melancholy, but she never said anything. She allowed it to pass by without question, partially in fear that she had hurt Taichi for no reason. If she had and she knew so very well that she still loved him, how was she going to face a life without the heart of either boy? She needed one of them. She could live with one of them. Preferably Yamato's since she found she was so much more compatible with him, but Taichi would forever be her heart's golden apple.

Another reason for why she never asked him what was going on inside his head was fear of his answer. That he could never move on past Mimi and all Sora was good for was some sick form of comic relief. She couldn't take that. She had invested so much into Yamato; she couldn't stand it if all her care and tenderness was for nothing. It would only prove her right that opening her heart up to what could be so much love was a lost cause. Sora shook her head vigorously. No, that couldn't be true. Love was there for her. Somewhere, and she hoped, with Yamato.

"Thank you for dinner, Yama. It was excellent, as always," she complimented, showing off a very pretty closed lipped smile.

"Anytime, Sora." He leaned against the doorframe and watched her as she put her shoes on outside the door to leave.

She turned to hug him and in turn he wrapped his arms about her waist.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Of course; don't you always?"

"It's just… will that be the case once summer comes around?" She peered up through her eyelashes at him.

"We'll hang out every day if you really want," he replied, kissing her forehead as he stroked her hair once.

"Mmm, I was hoping you'd insist!" She kissed his cheek innocently before turning to walk away. She stopped and turned back to look at him, "I love you." She put her head down avoiding his calm to startled eyes gazing at her.

"Sora, that's so sweet." He walked out to her and lifted her chin. "I love you too." They kissed gently and parted ways.

Yamato watched her go down the hall before closing the door and slumping down to the floor against it. Sora was a dream. She was fantastic and wonderful and everything he could want.

But Mimi?

Mimi was reality, and Yamato could be a little masochistic at times.

* * *

It was two days later, a Sunday, and Yamato was lazily tiding up the living room for Sora's arrival later. She was to come around three on clock, and he, Yamato, loving sleep quite a bit, hadn't awoken till noon and wasn't ready until one thirty. It was two o clock now and he still had to decide what to make for dinner, which movie to put on, and whether or not to take Sora to a park. 

Cleaning was becoming a slight annoyance with all the ruckus next door. The neighbors had moved out a while ago and for a time, there was peace and quite. The couple that lived there always fought quite loudly, and to his knowledge's extent, they had ended in a bitter divorce. The last thing either wanted was to be reminded of the ordeal by living in their old and quite possibly traumatized apartment.

It was nice. No shouting, no sounds of things being thrown against the wall and breaking… Yamato was living in paradise. But nice things come and go, and this nice thing had to be one that went faster. It was unfortunate really. He was happy to be getting more reading done for school. Now? He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but he was happy to place a fair sum of money that no matter what it was it was going to be loathsome, the very opposite of enjoyable, and in general not pleasant, which was, in and of itself, very repetitive be he found the redundancy more than necessarily accurate.

Sighing, he walked into his room, which was the better of the three bedrooms (one of which had been converted into an office) because his father was never really home to begin with, and picked up his book. He walked slowly out onto the balcony which was accessible from the living room, and, leaning against the railing while sitting down, began to read.

The noise below was hardly distracting and the sun was sitting brilliantly near the top of the building. To add, a sweet breeze seemed to work with him and pushed his hair out of his face so that he could read contentedly. It was perfect. He had at least half an hour to read before he had to cook for his wonderful girlfriend who was to be arriving in hours. The day was sweet and was tempting him to take her out to a park rather than watch a moving. He was undecided now, and as he read, he tossed the ideas over and over. He was being uncharacteristically indecisive, a vexation that seemed to begin with Mimi's uncomfortable absence. Going to a park was something he and Mimi would do, and his heart, though sure of its love for Sora, didn't want to be reminded of Mimi for some reason. His brain could hardly fathom the situation. Shouldn't he _want_ to do the wonderful things he did with Mimi with Sora and more? Shouldn't Sora be the upgrade from Mimi- the complete package with added bonuses? But his stubborn heart insisted that the two girls were separate. Neither was comparable to the other, therefore all things in he did for and with the two should remain separate and, more importantly, should be different things. They should be different versions of the same level of love. It wasn't right for his great love of Mimi to be overshadowed by his new love for Sora. His relationship with the former should was a force to be reckoned with, a bar that was almost unmatchable.

But Sora, Yamato figured, was damn near close to that bar wasn't she?

He thought for more moments, forgetting his book and staring down at the traffic below. People walking dogs, friends goofing around, and cars going by. '_She sure loved this balcony. The view's great, the sun sets right in front… I never did convince her to pour water on the people down there with me. Can't imagine why she never wanted too. It would have been tons of fun to see them all get mad. And it would have been nice to see her laugh…'_

The glass door to the balcony behind him, the one belonging to the new neighbors, slid open and a voice shouted through, "We'll be back in a bit, honey!"

"Take your time!" the voice of girl shouted back.

All at once, time stopped and his body went rigid. A chill traveled through literally every bit of his body, and his mind seemed to want to shut off. If he wasn't so anxious to rush back inside, he was positive he would have fainted. He rolled onto the side of the balcony entrance at an angle so that he could observe the girl walking out onto the balcony.

She put her forearms on the top of the railing and stared lovingly at the skyline. Her familiar hazelnut eyes were entranced and her hair sat blowing in the wind.

Her hair.

He stared desperately wanting to yell, "What did you do to your hair?"

And he did at that moment, not knowing it, and when her startled eyes turned to search inside his apartment looking for the voice that shouted to her, he began swearing like a sailor for blowing his cover. She leaned over the railing to get a better look.

"Yamato?" she asked in confusion and disbelief. Her eyebrows were furrowed while her eyes concentrated on his figure. They couldn't adjust to the darkness quite yet. It was an open advantage for him.

In one swoop, Yamato kicked the sliding doors shut and bounded to his room. He grabbed a jacket, pulled on some shoes, and ran out the door.

"This cannot be happening," he muttered.


	5. Ignorance At Its Finest

It's quick, but I'd like to think it's effective. This chapter was mainly an ice breaker of sorts. The next chapter's gonna have a couple confrontations in it. Gotta admit, I'm really excited to write this scene that's been boiling for a couple weeks now. Hopefully it'll be long enough to make up for this one, which is the shortest thus far, but I'd like to think the most important. Originally it was supposed to be in this chapter, but I realized there wasn't really room because there were a couple things that needed to happen before then, which you'll read about here. You'll know which things I'm talking about. Um, four scenes. The last one's my favorite in the entire story so far. It seems a little more natural than the others to me, and, as promised, no twists! Also, you'll have noticed in the summary a little change in plans. It would be a sin to ignore my roots. Yay. Plus it's kinda set up that way.

Have fun!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

chapter five

"Real **knowledge** is to know the** extent** of one's **ignorance**."

- Confucius

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

"Yamato? What are you doing here?" Sora asked her boyfriend. He was panting heavily on her doorstep, beads of sweat rolling down his face and darkening his shirt. It was pretty gross.

"Went out for a jog, heh. Thought we might just go out instead of staying at my place," he remarked through fluctuating breaths.

"Sure, um, why don't I get you some water, and you go stretch out your muscles? Don't sit though! You'll screw up your blood flow that way, and your muscles need to get more energy back before they can start working properly again!" she recited cheerily. Yamato painfully chuckled to himself, his lungs greatly stressed by the action. Sora was ever the athlete, and as such, she knew how to keep her body working in top form. Of course, he also realized she was as worried about him as much as she was trying to impress him with her knowledge.

However, Yamato wasn't one to think of his well being in times of crisis when the welfare of those around him was in jeopardy. He ignored her advice, pulled off his light jacket, tossed it on the arm of the Takenouchi sofa, and plopped on the side of one cushion. He closed his eyes and let the rest of his body fall to the side, the room turning sideways. This time happened to be a crisis in which many people's happiness was in jeopardy, and, Yamato noted, it was of epic proportions.

Tachikawa Mimi had returned to Japan.

He hadn't even locked his door when he ran away from such a confrontation. What was he to do? What could he say? He'd given up on her in the realization that she'd disappeared from his life forever, and now? Now she was home again! And he was with another girl! Her best friend, no less. It was now he realized what Taichi had seen in him those months before.

Taichi's eyes that day when Yamato patted his dear friend on the back in hopes that they could move beyond what was there- that Yamato had stolen Sora from Taichi, his eyes, with so much pain and contempt, told him exactly what Yamato was to those who believed in him: a pitiful, shameful human being. Maybe in his own silent way, Yamato calculated, Taichi was trying to tell him that hope should not have been forsaken so quickly and that Mimi was never truly far away.

Yamato could see that now. What had kept him from believing though? What had kept him from waiting?

"Here you go, Yama," Sora said affectionately, handing him an ice cold bottled of water.

"Thanks," he said shortly, still somewhat lost in his thoughts.

She breathed in a bit, watching him drink a large gulp before trying to cure the uncomfortable silence only she seemed to be experiencing. She put on a sweet smile and clasped her hands in her lap.

"So what do you want to do today?"

He looked at her as if barely realizing she'd been there for the last minute. He frowned. He meant for it to be one of regret, but he could see in her face it seemed more like disapproval. She had the most innocent smile plastered on and here he was worrying about Mimi when it was Sora who was suffering a spastic fit of dramatic irony. Who knew when something of that caliber would come to play in person's life? He certainly hadn't predicted such event to come into play, and not when everything had been going mostly well.

With the exception of his conscience being tortured subliminally and his actions of selfishness scrutinized by everyone but Sora, that is.

"Um," he started, "how about a movie?" '_Somewhere nice and dark where no one can see us and say, "_Haha, now you're in for it! Can't wait to see what Tachikawa's got in store for you!_" because I'm quite sure she won't be too pleased to know she's living next to the dumbest asshole in the world._'

"That sounds great! Let's go see what's playing." She arose from her seat and went to the family computer to turn it on. She was cheerier than usual.

Yamato turned back to his water, suddenly wishing it was alcoholic.

* * *

Mimi didn't know how long she'd stood there looking at that glass door. She was aware that it was shut and quite rudely in her face, sure, but she was everything but prepared for the voice that had come out of it earlier. Finally, she figured after fifteen minutes, that she had to move into the house, if anything to get her mind off the fact that she'd completely forgotten where Yamato lived. And how she managed that, she'd never know. 

"_What did you do to your hair?_"

She'd expected that reaction. She'd wanted him to be bitter. That's how he sounded, anyway. Bitter, annoyed, upset, annoyed. Very, very annoyed. It was the reaction she'd pictured multiplied a tenfold. He didn't like it. She wasn't his anymore. It should have been an exhilarating feeling; it should have been more than liberating. But Mimi was no fool. Not anymore. She knew what she felt. She felt stung. Burned. Slapped. And all he had to say was one single comment in the right tone.

Oh, how she wished he didn't have that much power over her. But it was no use. She cared how he felt. No matter how much she liked it or Taichi liked it, Yamato obviously didn't, and she was ready for the world to stop because of it. It was driving her crazy.

"Damn you, Ishida Yamato…" she muttered just as the doorbell rang.

"Mimi!" Taichi said brightly when she opened the door.

"Hello, Taichi." He noticed her voice sounded tired.

"Hm, so, uh, my mom made you guys housewarming cookies!"

"Thank you." She took them from him politely. He was worried as to why she hadn't laughed at the ludicrous idea of housewarming cookies. Normally she would have shown some amusement at such an unusual idea, and then commented on how society could be so weird by making it such a common occurrence in daily life.

"Nothing like cookies to make a house welcoming, right?" he tried to egg her on. Where was her sense of humor?

She tried to chuckle a bit, although it was plain that it was forced. "Right…"

"What's wrong?" he finally asked after a moment of silence where she put the cookies on the kitchen counter.

"Yamato lives next door," she reminded him quietly. She hung her head as she walked around him.

"I was hoping that wouldn't be it. But I guess you would remember that right?"

"What does that mean?"

"That you were his girlfriend who visited him only every day?" He rolled his eyes. He didn't know how she could find that offensive.

"I forgot actually." She sniffled while carrying a box to what he guessed was her new room. He followed her with an apologetic look across his face, not that she could see.

"Oh. Mimi, I just thought you'd remember. I didn't think…" He let his arms hang limply. She sat down on the edge of her bed and waited for him to sit next to her.

"He noticed my hair," she offered.

"What did he say?"

"He asked what I did to it, and then he shut the door to his balcony."

Taichi imagined the scene.

"Well screw him. It looks good on you."

"He didn't seem to agree with that."

"He also didn't seem to agree that you were good enough to wait for, so how heavily should we weigh in on his opinion, eh, Meems?"

"Why do you always keep bringing that up?"

"What?"

"That he's a bad person!"

"Because he is, Mimi!"

Her back sagged forward, the curve of her spine deep. She began crying. "And why don't I know whether I should agree with you or not?"

Taichi grabbed her and placed her on his lap. She leaned into him and let him wipe away her tears. He smiled softly at her red eyes.

"Because you still love him and he's not going to be easy to get over. But Mimi, I'm here. And I want to save you from all the pain you're feeling because I care more than you know about you." He let one hand curve on her cheek and she breathed shallowly as she leaned into it, her eyes closing peacefully.

She was unhappy about what Yamato said, but she was unhappier making Taichi uncomfortable. She liked Taichi. She liked the thought of getting near him, and as she opened her eyes so that they would fall onto his lips, she realized she liked the thought of kissing him. But she didn't know if it was out of spite for Yamato. What did she care? He was gone. Taichi was here, willing, and comforting. She could sense what he was trying to say with such subtlety. He was offering his heart to her. Maybe, just maybe, they could work. But she'd never know until they tried.

"Princesses like being saved, Taichi," she said coquettishly, not that her teary face was up to the task of flirting, but with such a good friend, she knew he wasn't looking at her, for she could tell he was seeing something other than her face, "but they don't like waiting to get saved."

He laughed and slowly he brought his lips on hers gently. She was living in a moment of bliss. For that split second Ishida Yamato didn't exist. She smiled against Taichi's mouth.

Taichi didn't look at her and see ugly pink hair. He looked inside her and saw a beautiful human being.

Once they pulled away, he smiled sweetly at her, his eyelids only half open. "I'm sorry I'm not Yamato. But the next best thing never hurts does it?"

Mimi held a laugh in the back of her throat so that it wouldn't spoil the moment.

"Taichi, I could never compare you to Yamato, so don't try and attempt to yourself. You two are on two different planets." She kissed his forehead lightly and gave him an odd look when she heard his stomach grumble.

"Um, I'll take you out to dinner, first date, yeah?" He grinned.

She let out the laugh she'd been holding that only grew with his proposition. "That sounds good."

And in five minutes, the apartment door was locked, and Tachikawa Mimi forgot about any troubles she'd had only moments ago.

* * *

The day was progressing unnaturally for Sora. 

It was usual that she'd catch whispering in the halls from Mimi's old friends. Her former best friend had had no trouble at all making friends anywhere, and it showed every time she looked over her shoulder. In short, people did not think of her kindly for being with Yamato.

Yamato never noticed the stares and girls gossiping. Sora couldn't figure out why not, but he was always better at going with the beat of his own drum.

She, on the other hand, had the insatiable need to be accepted by everyone, and being without a best friend, or even just casual ones now, was saddening. She was delighted though that she still had her close friends, among them Miyako, who was approaching Sora urgently from the other end of the hall.

"Hi, Sora, let's go this way," she said rapidly as she pushed Sora in the direction she was going rather than where Sora was heading, which was to her class.

"Good morning to you too," Sora laughed off. "Um, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Sora didn't catch Miyako's nervous glance. "What do you mean?"

"Well, people are laughing at me, if you couldn't tell," Sora replied bluntly. She gave Miyako a concerned look wondering if she'd gotten any sleep the previous night. It was quite obvious that people were laughing at the red head.

"I don't see anyone laughing at you." And at that moment some jock in Sora's class let out a boisterous "HAHA". Miyako blushed.

"Oh, that. I dunno…"

Sora halted. "What's going on?"

"Good luck keeping Yamato-kun now, Sora," commented another girl walking past them.

Sora frowned. Miyako sighed. "Sora, Mimi's-"

And from the end where Miyako came from, the two heard a loud cheer from several people.

"MIMI-CHAN!"

Sora's face blanched as she turned around cautiously to see her old friend smiling brilliantly and receiving hugs from her peers. The pink hair was the first thing she caught, and feeling the seeds of horror planted in her stomach, she noticed the owner of the hand entwined with Mimi's.

"Taichi…?" she whispered.

"Let's go," Miyako said, pulling on her friends arm.

"What's she doing here? When did she get back? And why is she holding Taichi's hand?"

"She's been back since Saturday, and she's staying for good this time." Miyako was always caught up on the latest gossip.

"And?"

"They're going out."

"By default, I presume."

"No, because they're allegedly over you and Yamato. They had a crush on each other when they were younger, Sora. Didn't you notice?"

"No."

"Right, you were too wrapped up in being a tomboy. Ignorance is the weakness of many, I see. And it shouldn't be bothering you, since _you_ left Taichi. But it is isn't it? Way to be decisive."

They had made it to the other side of the campus by now. Sora leaned onto a wall dejectedly.

"I love both of them."

"Yamato and Taichi?" Miyako asked. Sora nodded. "Sora, that isn't fair to them. You're with Yamato now. You should be happy. If you aren't, then, well, you'll have to wait it out. But Yamato loves you, so you shouldn't be disappointed. With time, I'm sure you'll grow fonder of him," she said, offering a loving smile.

"I already am fond of him. I want them both to be mine."

"I… I don't know how to make you choose, Sora. You'll just have to do it yourself."

Sora gave a small nod. She could feel an actual headache coming along, which she knew could only be accredited to Mimi's return. She gasped. "Yamato! He hasn't seen her yet!"

Miyako's eyes shot up. "Sora-"

"I should go tell him. He should know before he sees her!"

"He didn't tell you?" her friend asked curiously.

"What?" Sora's watery eyes searched Miyako's.

"Mimi moved in next door to him. He was the first one to see her. Other than Taichi of course. He flew back home with her."

"Ohhh…" Sora's mind flew through memories of his odd behavior on Saturday. It all fit. He'd seen Mimi and in a fit of panic he ran to her apartment. She found it admirable that he didn't just cancel their date but the fact that he'd been so secretive bothered her. Didn't Yamato trust her?

She hardly registered the walk to class, and the rest of the day seemed just as hopeless getting through as well.

* * *

Yamato was going crazy. 

His mind was bouncing from wall to wall. His focus just wasn't in the classroom at all. It was outside, in another classroom he could see in the window. It was on a head of pink hair, a restless head, he noted. She would move it to look every which way; at the board, to her paper, anywhere really.

She was so far away.

He rubbed at his eyes and looked over at the far front corner seat. Taichi was studiously taking notes. Just observing his jarred movements Yamato could see the formation of chicken scratched letters.

After class, Yamato walked up to Taichi and slapped a hand over his shoulder.

"Hey! So how's your project coming?"

He could see the brief glimmer of vexation in Taichi's gaze. "It's fine."

"How was New York?"

"It was pretty cool."

"Hm." There was a bit of quiet, where the two simply walked side by side. Yamato barely noticed that he'd missed the turnoff towards his next class.

"If that's your way of asking how Mimi was too, she's doing better than before, but you wouldn't know that since you treated her like crap on Saturday. What a gentleman you are. Living up to the expected studly traits everyone talks about." Taichi made a broad gesture with his arms for effect.

"Man, I didn't even ask you about her."

"But she's obviously on your mind if you took the time to make small talk with me. You and I haven't been doing that since, what, March?"

"Maybe I just miss my best friend."

"You quit being my best friend a long time ago, Yamato." Another break in the conversation. Taichi was becoming more and more annoyed with Yamato's presence as they walked on.

"Are the rumors true then?"

"Rumors? Pfft. Not so much rumors as actual fact."

"That's my answer then? You and her…?"

"Yes."

"When did that happen?"

"When you decided to be an asshole."

"Dude, I may be an asshole, but even I realize how many times I've proven it. Which moment are you talking about?"

"Every single one of them. Are you going to keep following me?" Taichi turned around to face Yamato, who stopped in his tracks.

"What if I told you I still loved her? And Sora too?" Yamato asked theoretically, ignoring Taichi's jibe.

"I would tell you the same thing, but even I can make a choice, and after how Sora hurt me? I pick Mimi. Mimi wouldn't do that."

"What if I told you Sora wouldn't either?"

"What are you getting at?" Taichi raised an eyebrow.

"That night… it wasn't Sora's fault you know."

"Um, Yamato, I believe it takes two to tango."

"I mean, not directly. Maybe I… worked a little magic?"

"Fuck, man. I don't want to hear about you and my ex-girlfriend like that!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

It was time for the next class.

"Look, if you wanna spill your guts out, fine. Go for it. But I'm not the one you owe an explanation to. You haven't been making me cry. Try making it up to someone it matters. I'm done with you," Taichi called over his shoulder with a wave of goodbye.

Yamato's back slumped. He was right. He owed Mimi a lot of things. His backbone, his heart, and one hell of an explanation. His mission had become one of a man now. Operation Mimi had commenced.


	6. Pinatas Are For Parties & This Isn't One

Oh, man, I'm so sorry this update's so late. It's long, and yes, I do have comments on it, so head on over to my profile for a link to the things I feel are necessary to say about it. But, srsly? I kind of loved writing it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

chapter six

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

"Your heart is my piñata."

-Chuck Palahniuk

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

The sun was setting. He had half an hour before his date, and all he was doing was laying on the bottom bunk of the bed he used to share with his kid sister tossing a tennis ball up into the air and catching it over and over and over and…

_The next best thing…_

Was he that stupid?

Could he really be fooling himself that much?

A small crush would never overcome a great love. All he was doing was putting Mimi on what could develop into a harmful and addictive drug known as Ecs_tai_cy. All arrogant thoughts aside, he was afraid she'd come to depend on him. Worse was that he was afraid he'd come to depend on her. Maybe he should have listened to her the five billion times she told him no.

But there was the fact that after Sora, he found Mimi somewhat endearing. But if he could have Sora, he decided he'd have her back in a heartbeat. Only he liked Mimi, and he would miss her.

He sighed. All this drama would seriously screw up all his friendships with everyone.

His mind wandered off to Sora again, and the tennis ball seemed to sense this and dropped in midair onto his eye, which was too late to close.

"_Mimi's wonderful!_"

"So is Sora," he told the ball.

"_Oh, I'm sure she says the same about you,_" the ball returned sarcastically.

"Look, it's not like we're serious. Mimi knows this is just exploring an old… thing. She wouldn't take it that far. She wouldn't torture me like that." Taichi shook his head.

"_Have you made that clear, Romeo? Romeo was kind of a jerk, in case you didn't catch that._"

"No, he wasn't."

"_Yes, he was. '_Oh, I am fortune's fool_'? What is he saying about Juliet then? That she makes him a fool? She was the best thing that happened to him. Rosaline was no good, I tell you._"

"Um, I believe that was the one of the more shallow points of the play…"

"_Right, well, anyway, _my _point is that one of your current dilemmas is Juliet and the other is Rosaline. Figure out which is which before you kill someone._" The ball let out a snicker. Taichi snapped. A snicker? Oh, wow. He was going crazy.

"WHY AM I TALKING TO A TENNIS BALL?" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I don't know, honey, but Mimi's on the phone for you. Sorry, I didn't put it on mute," Mrs. Yagami said softly as she stood in the doorway of his room. His face reddened.

"Gee, thanks, Mom," he asked somewhat facetiously.

"Anytime, sweetie." She handed him the phone with a smile. He grabbed it and waited till she was out the door before speaking into it.

Mimi was laughing uncontrollably on the other end.

"Hi, Meems," Taichi tried his best to interrupt her.

"I'm sorry, it's just… Taichi… a _tennis_ ball? What do you do… in your spare time?" she wheezed.

"Nothing. What's up?"

There was a rustling on the other side, like cloth on the mouthpiece. He imagined she was playing the cord or fidgeting with the phone in her hand. "Um," he heard her breathe through her nose briefly, "do you mind if we just did this some other night?"

"Sure. Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Uh… my parents… that is, they wanted to do the family dinner thing. I… I'll talk to you in school tomorrow… right?"

"Yeah. Mimi if there's something wrong…" An idea struck him. '_Maybe she feels the same way. This might have been a bad idea. Maybe she thinks this was a bad idea,_' he thought as a stream of relief and hope passed through his mind.

"Meems, if you don't feel right about all this, it's okay. We'll stop. We don't have to do this."

"Are you kidding, Taichi? Of course there's nothing wrong. I'm okay with this. Really." He could see her nodding reassuringly, which made him inwardly cringe. "Look, I've gotta go. 'Night, Taichi."

"Goodnight, Mimi." After he heard a click on the other end, he hung up as well.

"I hate tennis balls," he murmured, throwing the ball out the balcony to the street below.

* * *

"Okay. You made me cancel my date. This better be good, Yamato," Mimi said, fixing a notepad and pen next to the phone. She didn't want to look at him. His face only served to upset her.

"You're sure nothing's wrong with your little arrangement there? You seem a little more fidgety and uncomfortable. I hope for your sake, Mimi, that deception isn't something you'll give into," he commented coolly.

"Right… you… you would know about deception wouldn't you?" She went to fixing the doily and vase of fake flowers that went along with the phone, notepad, and pen on a table against a wall.

He sighed. "I don't know what it was that went through my head."

"Well, maybe you can figure it out and explain it to me because for the past week and a half, I haven't been able to put my finger on it either." She briskly crossed the room to the coffee table and began to stack magazines.

"You've been counting the days?"

"Since I first found out, yes. I've never felt more upset in my life. You sure know how to get under a girl's skin. Not that I ever doubted you or your skills as far as all _that_ goes… just never thought I'd be on the receiving end of your… issues." She was tired of cleaning and sat on the couch. He stared at the back of her head from the bar.

"So, tell me… you said you would… what happened? Where did the great infallible Ishida Yamato go wrong?" she said in bitter cheer. She was mocking him, and he didn't like it.

"Look, Mimi. I came here to apologize, but you seem to not want that, so I'll just leave so you and Yagami can do your little date thing. Whatever," he said, moving towards the door.

She looked over her shoulder and jumped up when she saw what he was doing. She was much faster than him and managed to press herself against the door, a steely glint in her eye. "Oh, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere. You're going to tell me right now, what happened. I deserve to know, dammit," she told him rather adamantly. He was slightly taken aback.

"You haven't changed all that much…" He smiled.

"You'd be surprised at how much I have."

"Nah, I really think it's just your hair."

"JUST TELL ME!"

He sighed before continuing, "Go sit down. Where's your tea?"

"How 'bout I get that? You're a guest, and the sooner I get your stupid tea, the sooner I get my answer, and that's all I want, Yamato. Nothing more. You and I aren't friends, asshole." She pushed him towards the sofa then stormed into the kitchen banging cupboard doors in search of tea. She wasn't sure if her parents had unpacked it yet. Sure enough they had. Quickly, she poured water in kettle and waited for it to heat. Once it was warm enough, she mixed it with tea and brought out a tray with two cups and the kettle.

"Here's your tea, so start. Now." She glared at him.

He laughed, purposely sipping his tea slowly, relishing in her annoyance. He wiped his mouth, and then the story finally came out.

* * *

_It was cold outside. Even so late into winter, the sky was still dark at around six thirty, which was around when Taichi and Sora arrived on his doorstep. Yamato rubbed his eyes furiously before lagging over with a curved back to the door, the doorbell sounding above his head._

"_Yo," he said lazily. His two friends gawked at him._

"_What happened, Yama?" Sora asked as she put a small container of food on his counter in the kitchen. Taichi placed a hand on Yamato's back and looked at him, pure concern written obviously on his face._

_Yamato laughed bitterly. As if they didn't very well know what happened. "I haven't eaten in three days," he said matter of factly._

"_Moron. We brought you food. I'll go heat it up." Taichi went into the kitchen while Sora came back out to hug the shirtless blonde. He returned it, noticing how warm she was, and how her very fragrance fit that warmth perfectly. He imagined she was Mimi. This was exactly how Mimi felt in his arms, only with a different scent and with a much sweeter warmth. But Sora was comforting, nonetheless. It was a friendly warmth. The kind one needed to get through the day. He breathed deeply into her shoulder._

"_It's not healthy to starve yourself, Yamato. Mimi would want you to be healthy." She smiled apologetically, rubbing the coarse material of her pink gloves on his shoulder. She shook her head and went to turn up the thermostat._

"_Here, now eat," Taichi said, pushing a hot plate at Yamato._

_A thought flew through his head, and he realized exactly what he wanted to do. He grabbed the plate, and faking pain and shock dropped it all over the floor. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, waving his hand to cool it._

_Taichi looked at him quizzically then with vexation, a look that one would give a clumsy young child._

"_I'll be right back," he said to Sora._

"_Where are you going?" she asked him from the spot where she was fiddling with the controls of the heater._

"_To get Yamato more food."_

"_Thanks, Taichi," Yamato told his friend before Taichi walked out. He was busy cleaning up the mess on the floor with a rag._

"_No problem." The door shut._

_There was silence with the exception of the soft scrapes of the rag against the food ridden carpet and the soft ticking of knobs._

"_There we go," Sora said, happy at the air that could be heard coming through various vents in the house._

"_Thanks, Sor." Yamato bowed his head to her as he walked by with the rag wrapped tightly around itself. He tossed it into the trash._

"_Don't mention it." She began taking off her gloves and tan colored jacket, neatly placing them on the head of the couch. She was wearing a dark blue long sleeved thermal that hugged her body and went quite well with her dark washed jeans. She decided to take a seat on the couch and stare out at the balcony. Yamato took a seat next to her and passed her a cup of hot chocolate._

"_Thank you." She smiled kindly and moved her attention back to the balcony. "It's so pretty outside tonight."_

"_Yup," Yamato agreed, sipping from his own mug. A welcomed heat surged through his body, and his stomach growled, Yamato imagined furiously, from negligence._

"_Taichi and I were giving names to all the stars we saw on our way here." She chuckled. "He's such a dork sometimes."_

_He raised an eyebrow at her. "You were helping him."_

"_Oh, but that's different. I'm a girl. Girls do dreamy things like that."_

"_He only acts that way because of you, and he'll only show that side of himself to you. You know that?"_

_She stayed quiet, thoughtful, before nodding. "Yeah."_

_Yamato put his arm around her and shook her shoulders in a friendly way._

"_You miss her?" Sora asked him. She leaned a little away from him._

"_More than you can imagine. But time will pass, and I'll be okay again." He leaned a little towards her face. "Who knows? Maybe I'll meet someone who'll catch my eye." He took his arm off her and made a clear impression of his space when he leaned back and looked outside as well._

_He saw Sora shudder ever so lightly, almost invisibly, and glance at him for a millisecond before giving a single shake of her hair._

"_How can you be so sure of yourself, Yama? Mimi is your everything. She misses you so much."_

_Yamato nodded. He stared into his mug. He missed her so much too, but she was in America. There were so many people there, especially in New York City. So many guys that would most likely try to take her away. He'd heard of the allure of white men. He couldn't shake off the notion that he was going to lose her, and when he did, there would be nothing left of him but a bitter spirit. A person who was, who used to be, and would never be again. He had to prevent that. He had to stop the pain from happening and consuming him._

"_I miss her too, but she's gone, Sor. I need to move on," he said softly and gave her a deep, concentrated look. Sora frowned and lightly touched his face, her fingers grazing the tired lines and the purple bags beneath his eyes.

* * *

_

It was at this time that Yamato decided to drink from his cup, and once it was drained, he poured more back in. He noticed Mimi staring at him intently.

"What?" he asked her sad eyes.

"You're an idiot," she answered, wiping at the tears that were threatening to unleash. She was intent on not showing her weakness.

"I'm human," he retorted bitterly. She searched his body for any sign at all that he was reluctant, that maybe he'd made some awful decisions regarding their relationship, but there was nothing. Just regular Yamato, swishing his tea around so as to mix the flavors appropriately. Just regular Yamato, avoiding her piercing gaze and deciding his tea leaves were far more interesting.

"You're not Yamato," she breathed.

"Mimi, don't be a moron. Of course I'm Yamato, just not the way you remember. You know why?" he asked her, leaning back on the sofa coolly.

She leaned onto the coffee table more, her legs tucked underneath her bottom.

"Why?" she asked sweetly.

"Because I'm not kissing you or hugging you anymore."

Mimi began to concentrate on her own tea a little more as he continued with his story.

_Yamato placed his hand over Sora's and leaned into her touch, his eyes closed in a blissful reverie. In his mind, Mimi was touching him, skin kissing him. _

"_Yamato," she whispered warningly, and Yamato opened his eyes widely._

_Sora was not Mimi, and he almost lost it when he realized the truth._

'No, no, this is some nightmare. This girl next to me… she's the one I want… she's-_' and Yamato, so wrapped in his thoughts of his beloved, stared off into the space of his apartment before whispering, "I love you."_

_He blinked rapidly and looked at Sora, who was blushing madly and staring at him._

"_God, I hope Taichi gets here soon. The lack of food has been doing something to your brain," she commented, moving a little away from him._

"_No," he said forcefully. He was not crazy. He was not talking out of his ass. He felt this way. He knew it._

_But he ignored the little voice in the back of his head that told him that he really loved Mimi, and he only said that because he was thinking of her. He was truly going mad, and he didn't stop it. He didn't even want to. This was exactly how he was going to live without Mimi. He was going to cling onto a girl that could touch him and the only thought that would pass through his mind while she did was his lost girlfriend._

_No, that little voice was pure blasphemy in this mind that was slowly taking over. This mindset that only told him one thing- _get what you want however you want it

_He smirked at Sora before crawling on top of her, and she was still looking at him as if something terribly disgusting was crawling out of his nose. He leaned down close, but he didn't dare touch her. His arms steadily supported him; the only thing felt between them was pure body heat, only it wasn't the sweet, passionate kind._

_This kind of heat was the dark, alluring kind, and he could very well see the torture in her mind to give in to a serious romantic event. He figured Taichi had never tried anything foolish with her. It was very like him to be so responsible._

"_No, Sora, I'm perfectly sane," he whispered huskily by her ear._

"_Yamato, I love Taichi. I've given him everything: my heart, my soul, and… and…"_

_So perhaps Taichi wasn't so innocent after all._

"_Shh," he hushed. "It doesn't matter to me. Help me. Please. I need you." And he backed away to look at her face, the face a girl in a horrible position of temptation. She was afraid._

_That little voice rang in again, "_How could you? How could you do this to one of your oldest and best friends? She's in pain because of you. You know she had a crush on you all those years before, and all you're doing is fanning the flames_."_

"It's Mimi's fault for leaving, it's Taichi's fault for trusting me, and it's Sora's fault for not pushing me away_," he fought back._

"And it's your fault you're letting this all get to you. Why don't you get it? Mimi's not going away for real. She'll come back for college. She'll come back for you, and all you're thinking about is screwing her best friend because you're depressed._" The voice was adamant, and fighting as hard as it could to reason with this callous version of Yamato, but it was to no avail, because at that moment the doorbell rang. Yamato gave into a few seconds of staring at her before arising to open the door for Taichi. Sora's eyes had been so piercing, and she looked as if she was ready to tear him to shreds behind a layer of self induced mental mutilation. Of course, he was seducing her when all she truly wanted was the dorky but caring boy who was currently shoving a bag full of fast food in Yamato's face._

"_Now, eat, and call Mimi when you get the chance," he said, shoving a piece of paper with chicken scratch numbers scrawled on it._

_Taichi walked over to a very quiet and almost tearful Sora, and cheerfully plopped beside her. He opened another bag and passed her some food. Yamato did not fail to notice the unsure look she gave her boyfriend as he chomped into a burger. He did not fail to notice the fact that she carefully leaned into him comfortable, and he most certainly did not fail to notice the scared, perplexed, and very, very cold look she gave him. He stared down at his bag, and walked back to his room._

"_Hey, where ya goin'?" Taichi asked Yamato, who didn't stop._

"_To my room. Don't come in. I'll be out later. The remote's on top of the TV if it's entertainment you want," he called out in explanation.

* * *

_

Another pause and Yamato looked expectantly at Mimi, waiting for some insult at his completely improper behavior. She said nothing and continued to stare into her tea.

"So, nothing then? You're not gonna call me an asshole?" he asked, pouring a third cup of tea. The kettle was close to being empty.

"I think you know very well what you are, Ishida Yamato. I would be utterly shocked and disappointed in you if you didn't. Even the most awful human being on the planet recognizes when he's gone completely over the edge." She gently placed her cup on the table but did not look up.

He gave her a soft _hn_ and got up to stretch. Slowly but surely, he made his way over to her on the other side and picked up her chin so she was forced to look at him. Her eyes were very watery, and in an attempt to hide it, she moved to wipe the moisture away. He swat her hand away, and in response, she moved her eyes to look away from him.

"Listen to me, Mimi, and listen well. I love you. I love you with all of my heart, and losing you once almost made me go crazy. It's bad enough I hurt three of the most important people in my entire life, but I'm here to make things better with you. I need us to be friends again." He stared desperately into her eyes.

"You can't break up with Sora."

"And I won't. I made my bed, so I'll lie in it, dammit. No matter how long it takes things to fix-"

"You won't ever break up with Sora."

He looked away and let her chin go. "I don't know about that, Mimi."

"No, you won't. You ruined a great love she had, so you will make it up to her, do you hear me? You will give her everything, and you will treat her as a human being who matters to you. She may have been the next best thing for you then, but right now, she's the only thing for you because she's the only person who may be able to look at you without getting sick. How could you do that? How could you hurt so many innocent people?"

"I'm sorry! God, Mimi, I never meant to hurt anyone, I just didn't know what to do."

"Oh, Yamato." She stood and grabbed his face in both of her hands, staring at him hard. She looked at him, and he felt every emotion she was feeling. She wanted to fix this, to fix him, but she couldn't fix a person who was so broken. He was so messed up in the head now, and it pained her more than she could imagine seeing this person- this person who'd touched her heart like no other- so irreparable.

"How could you hurt yourself like this? How could you be such an idiot?" She gulped and let his face go, walking over to the door to open it. "I'm sorry, Yamato, but you really need to go right now. We'll finish this later."

He nodded shamefully and hung his head as he walked past her and out the door. She heard him enter his apartment next door before closing and locking herself in her home. She felt so cold, so upset and shaken.

Who had Yamato become?

It was all her fault.

She hung her head in her hands as she walked back towards the sofa. She'd only stepped once before an urgent knock sounded at the front door.

"Mimi." It was Yamato. His muffled voice was panicked.

"What? I told you to go home. Why are you still here?" she asked, trying to keep all hints of regret out of her tone.

"I need to finish the story."

"I'm not opening the door."

"Then I'll tell you the rest of it through it, but I need you to hear. Even if we're not together, even if we may never be together again, I need you to forgive me."

"How do you forgive a monster?" He was silent.

"I don't know," came his whisper.

* * *

_When Yamato finally left his room, it was nine o clock at night. His father would probably be sleeping at the office again. Nothing unusual._

_Unless one counted the fact that for some reason Yagami Taichi was nowhere in sight but his girlfriend Takenouchi Sora was dozing off on the Ishida couch._

_Yamato walked over and shook her awake. "Sora? Sora, wake up. It's getting late. Wake up."_

"_Mmmf," she mumbled, taking her sweet time lazily lifting one eyelid by two millimeters. "What?"_

"_Why are you still here? Where's Taichi?" Yamato bent down to her level._

"_I told Taichi it was okay if he left me here. I want to take care of you and make sure you don't do anything stupid, seeing as how you almost starved yourself." She worked the saliva in her mouth by repeatedly opening and closing it, and then proceeded to curl herself up tighter and almost go back to sleep._

"_C'mon. I'll take you home. You're mom must be worried." Yamato fixed one arm to go under her knees and the other under her shoulder blades. He slowly picked her up and moved toward the door._

"_No! It's okay. She'll just think I'm spending the night at someone's house. I can call Miyako and get her to back me up, but I just don't feel right leaving you here. Please let me stay." She looked up at him with open yet still drowsy eyes. He looked into them and saw a hope and sincerity that he'd only ever seen in one other person, and he just couldn't let that get away again. With some reluctance, he put her on her legs, and she straightened out her shirt before smiling broadly at him._

"_I knew you'd see it my way. Where might I find your phone?"_

"_On the wall over there," he pointed, "but don't you think your mom would have started calling people asking where you are already?"_

"_Hmm, I doubt it. She's been getting a little more patient with me lately, but you have a point. Better think of something or I'm toast!" she giggled and walked over towards the phone. Yamato waited patiently on the sofa._

_Once she finally returned, he immediately asked, "So how did it go?"_

"_Called Miyako, and she said she's up for a little secret keeping-"_

"_Otherwise known as lying," he interrupted._

"_Whatever, secret keeping, and then I called my mom, and she gave me the thumbs up for spending the night, so all is well."_

"_She didn't make a fuss?"_

"_Well, she was a little scared, but overall relieved that I finally called."_

"_That's good." Yamato picked up the remote. "Have a seat; my favorite show's going to be on."_

_She obliged and took a seat… on another chair, obviously avoiding the sofa, which he was sitting on. He smirked at her._

"_You learn," he observed._

_She chuckled nervously and kept her eyes fixed on the TV. He could tell she was trying very hard to keep the not so innocent atmosphere between them platonic. He also noted that she was failing._

_They watched the show in an uncomfortable silence, though it truly only amused Yamato. Occasionally, he would catch her fidgeting in her chair, stealing a glance at his content expression. When she wasn't looking and trying desperately to get into the program on the television, he would shift his eyes and examine her. He would study her face, her body, and he knew all the while how awful he was being. He couldn't shake the notion that he was being a spoiled brat._

_But for some stupid reason, he didn't care._

_He clicked the TV off once the show was done and walked over to her, running a finger on the soft skin one found underneath another's chin. She pulled away from his touch carefully, he figured in hopes that she wouldn't offend or startle him. It only made him want to touch her more though._

"_Hungry again?" he asked her calmly, as if nothing had happened._

"_T-thirsty, sure." She nodded and followed him into the kitchen. He passed her a soda as he kept his head in the refrigerator, searching for a snack._

"_Aren't you cold?" she pondered._

"_Not really. It's warmer now that you turned on the heater."_

"_But you're still not wearing a shirt. That can't be comfortable. Let me go get you-"_

_He popped his head put and looked at her inquiringly. "Are you sure you should be assuming that _I'm_ the one who's uncomfortable here? I dunno, but you look like you might be ready to burst from anxiety or something. Now why would _that_ be, Sora?" He lifted his eyebrows for a quick millisecond and went back to digging through his fridge before pulling out a half eaten box of cookies. He offered her some, but she shook her head. He only shrugged and ate them as if they were perfectly fresh._

"_What's wrong?" he asked her, as she was transfixed with a spot on the wall next to him._

"_Nothing," she said after a moment, grinning._

"_Maybe I'd believe you more if your smile wasn't so telling, now," he chided. She winced at the loud crunch he produced eating his snack. She took a drink before once again adjusting in her seat._

"_I just wish you'd stop teasing me. If I'd known you'd take the move this hard, I would've begged Mimi to stay. I would've kissed her parents' shoes clean if they would have let her stay!"_

_He was thoughtful for a moment before deciding on what to say. "Okay then. Talk to me. You're just sitting there, quiet, and I really don't know how to get you to open up. I guess my bad mood just has me taking out my... frustrations on you," he lied, but he was good at it, so she nodded and began a conversation._

_They talked for hours upon hours. Monopolization of the other's ears moved between the two peacefully, almost unnoticeably. Yamato was enjoying himself, basking in the warmth of another's presence. It made him a little angry to realize that the only reason he was missing out on so much fun with a girl like Sora was because he'd been moping over Mimi for the past three days. _

"You had every right to feel upset about Mimi leaving. You love her. How could you blame her for any of this?_" the little voice chimed in again._

"God, don't you ever go away?_" Yamato asked it in annoyance._

"It's your fault, Yamato. You could have coped in other ways. She would have wanted you to stop thinking about her for a little while and pick up the pieces. And maybe when you got home, you'd give her a long distance ring and talk about how things are going. If anyone could hold a long distance relationship, it would've been you two, but you're just not getting it at _all_._" He swiped at his hair as if a fly were perched on a strand innocently, but he was surely thinking that beating at his head would cure the viral pestilence that voice presented every time it decided to reverberate in his brain._

"You're an idiot. Mimi isn't everything the world has to offer. There's Sora, right here, right in front of me. No need to care about a girl who lives an ocean away,_" he argued._

"And are you sure the girl whose heart you never wanted to pain will understand your pathetic reasoning here and back off without shedding a tear? Who are you fooling, Ishida?_"_

"There's no one to fool. I genuinely want to get over Mimi, and the best person to get over her with is sitting right in front of me. She's always been there, and I've always been wasting my time with an emotional sap who's in love with the color pink!_"_

"Oh, you're _really _dumb, aren't you? Mimi would do anything for you. The fact that she puts all of herself into her emotions is what you love about her, and now you're going to turn around and decide it's a god awful trait to possess? You don't deserve her _or_ Sora. You deserve to rot in an alleyway with nothing but a bottle of alcohol to accompany you. How could you possibly talk like this? What's happened to you? Sora was right; the lack of sustenance has surely lowered your intelligence. I hope she turns you down and-_"_

_And _boy_ was Yamato sick and tired of that voice, so he decided to shut it up the only way he knew how. In the middle of her sentence, Sora's voice was cut off by Yamato's hungry lips. He held her head firmly against his own, and he wouldn't let her go. Not even for a second. He felt her struggle a bit, to get away, and he could just imagine her eyes were wide in a scandalized mix of feelings and the horrors a loss of innocence could bring, for he'd granted her no choice. She was going to cheat on her boyfriend whether she liked it or not._

_And for some reason, this felt so right to him. Why his best friend didn't matter to him at that moment, he'd never know._

"_Be with me," he said suddenly once he pulled away. They were out of breath, and Sora's eyes were still glued shut, little creases on her lids and at the corners of eyes._

"_I-I don't know. What… what did you just do?" she asked nervously. She dared not reveal her eyes to him still. "What did _I_ just do?"_

_He didn't think he was supposed to answer that, but like a few hours before, he picked up her chin and studied her features. "Open your eyes, Sora. Look at me," he said gently to her. Slowly, and what looked to be painfully, she raised her eyelids and stared at him. She was confused, it seemed. He moved his arms around her slowly and vigorously pulled her into him, the embrace so completely warm to him. The voice had silenced, and his heart was ramming into his rib cage with an excited passion._

_He _liked_ Sora, and he was going to make sure that she couldn't escape him or his lips ever again.

* * *

_

"And then what happened?" Mimi asked after Yamato had quieted for a moment. The story seemed to be done, but this was no ordinary story, because from what she knew, it was still going on with this moment, with this recollection of events that changed them all.

"We talked more. She called Taichi in the morning. We had to deal with what we did-"

"Not that it was enjoyable or anything, right, Yamato?" Mimi sniped sarcastically.

"I wanted it, I know I did. It's complicated, Mimi. I missed you, and when I reached out to her, she was there, and I couldn't stop. I fell in love with her too."

"Well, you're too late to be forgiven. I can't believe you would be so selfish!" she cried.

"Hey, wait. That isn't fair, okay?" His fist lightly pounded on the door, and she jumped in fright at the sudden noise. "When a person panics, when a person is desperate, they try to find any way out of it. I did, Mimi. I found my way out of a lot of pain, and it looks like it wasn't the worst decision after all…"

"How wasn't this all a mistake? How do you justify hurting yourself and hurting other people?"

"I CAN'T! It's not justification I'm trying to give you. It's comfort in knowing that I didn't completely turn my back on you."

"All I got out of your sorry explanation was that in some twisted way this was my entire fault."

"I can't believe you're taking insult from this. I'm trying to apologize. I'm trying to make it up to you. I could've just… I might as well have not bothered with you at all."

"I'd rather you didn't. I'd rather you go home and never speak to me again! You're pitiful!" She clutched her face in her hands as salty tears fell down her face with a terrible force. Cries of agony threatened to sound from the back of her throat if she opened her mouth once more.

"Fine. Fine!" Yamato yelled at her. She heard his footsteps walk away and a door open and slam shut.

Curse the being, whoever they were, who decided to curse _her_. Some destinies should never be made.

* * *

'_What am I doing out here?_' Taichi asked himself, taking a hand to his head and ruffling his hair.

He was going on his date alright, but for some stupid reason, he was going it alone. His light jacket rippled in the breeze made by passing cars and hurried men and women itching to get home for dinner. How pathetic he felt to be walking around unaccompanied by anyone. He must have looked like some irresponsible teenager, some welfare child. His hair was messy; his blue jacket clashed with his dark green shirt and pressed khakis. Black shoes so nice and polished, but that damn jacket had an orange stain from spilt ketchup. He was so ready to take Mimi on a nice evening out, and hell, he even had the money for a nice restaurant he knew of across town for once. Mom had even gone so far as to let him have the car keys to keep his new girlfriend safe and off the night streets where creepy men prowled.

But she'd _cancelled_. Oh, how she'd cancelled on him. It was detestable. It was awful. It was little painful.

But mostly it was relieving.

He couldn't quite sort out his feelings about it all. He missed Sora so much, but he had Tachikawa Mimi. He couldn't deny that he was one lucky fool, most certainly proven by the approving glances and pats on the back the guys at school had given him. Her friends were always going up to him and offering their congratulations, their compliments about how the star soccer player definitely deserved the pink princess over anyone else.

And by anyone else, he knew they obviously meant Yamato.

Yamato was a brother to him. Perhaps they weren't best friends anymore, but they were still brothers. They were two of a kind. At some point, they'd forgive one another, _he'd_ forgive Yamato, and maybe things would kind of be okay?

Oh, who the hell was he kidding? He missed the guy, but he was one hell of a backstabber. All he needed was one punch and then perhaps mundane conversations would be… possible between them.

But nothing like that awful confrontation at school the other day. Oh, gods, no. That was both awkward and annoying. Had it not been school, then maybe that's when that one good sucker punch would have come to be.

He'd been walking for a good forty five minutes by now, and he figured it would be wise to turn into the next restaurant he saw; only he saw something a little better.

Sora was balancing several paper grocery bags in both arms quite skillfully while she looked at the traffic passing by. He suddenly wished he hadn't worn his ketchup stained jacket. She was as beautiful as ever, and he was a ruffed up puppy.

At that point he wasn't thinking about anything anymore. Seeing her so calm and without Yamato gave him this warm feeling, like he was meeting up with her somewhere for a date that hadn't been cancelled. She was going to look at him and smile so lovingly, so adoringly that he would never be able to let her go, and as she got closer, she was about to experience yet another uncalled for impulse, the second one to pass in her life.

Another act that would once again change her relationship with a boy she couldn't break apart from.

Taichi grabbed Sora and startled her into dropping the food she was carrying, her eyes opening wide in horror. She stared at his face; he was so deep in concentration and focus, and she couldn't guess what he was thinking.

But she knew what _she_ was thinking.

_God, this was the best kiss she'd ever gotten._


End file.
